The Second Agent
by TakatoRikku
Summary: When Leon fails to report in after his fight with Del Lago, the president sends in a second agent to find out what went wrong. Agent Daisuke Tendo rescues Ashley and teams up with Leon to take down Saddler and escape Pueblo. LeonXAda, OCXAshley
1. Chapter 1

To those that know me, yes, this isn't a Harry Potter FF:O I've decided to foray into Resident Evil since I can't really stop playing RE4, no matter what I do! Hopefully I can write something that's not crappy to the game.

Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil, Biohazard, Capcom, Las Plagas or Leon's wicked hairdo.

Pueblo - The second agent

Chapter 1

A young man strode down a well furnished corridor with purpose. He was of average height, slightly more than average build, with exotic looks, his parentage pointing towards caucasian-asian at the least. A heart shaped face with pale - but healthy - white skin was adorned with many features that modern society would call 'attractive'. Full lips, a cute button nose (although if you told him it was cute, he'd most likely sever a limb from your body) matched cleanly with larger than normal eyes that were almond shaped, round and framed with thick, long black lashes. Perhaps the most exotic thing about his eyes were that they were a very pale gray, seemingly fading into the whites of his eyes easily. Hell, for a male, even his eyebrows were manicured, sweeping upwards in a thin and elegant arch.

Yes, without a doubt, this man was what modern society would call 'attractive'. Not that he wasn't modest or anything, but Daisuke Tendo - known to his few friends as "Dai" - was anything but immodest. He was actually quite humble about his looks, really, and accepted it with the rest of his life. Daisuke was currently striding down the corridors of the illustrious White House, being escorted towards the big cheese himself, the president, known to him only as "Mr. Graham", "Mr. President" or "Sir".

His two pals - not really - were White House security, his escorts on the way through the damn place. They had politely - again, not really - asked him to relinquish all his weapons for security purposes before entering the restricted areas. Daisuke had reluctantly given up his precious Glock 23, a pistol that he had bought and modified extensively himself. He was also forced to give up his 16 mags that were littered about his lithe frame and surprisingly, a wakizashi, also known as a short katana. The WH security guys gave him a strange look when he unsheathed it from his back from the custom spring-loaded holster. The holster was located on his back, and the sword had several notches forged into the blade near the handguard that locked into a swivelling catch behind his right shoulder. Once locked into place, all Dai had to do was push backwards on the hilt until the entire assembly locked into place on his back. A wireless transmitter was linked to his right glove, which held two pressure points - one on the index finger just before the knuckle, and the other on his palm - where, once both depressed, the catch would be released and the sword would be ready to draw quickly. He had gotten even more strange looks when _that_ had happened.

"What?" he had asked incredulously. "If my gun gets knocked out of my hands, I'm not trusting my life to some puny knife!"

After the rather embarrassing strip-down, he was finally led to La Grande's office. Inside was a middle-aged man, pacing around his desk. President Graham was a strong looking man with dark blone hair and warm blue eyes. At the moment, those eyes had looked like they had been frozen with liquid nitrogen. Great, the head honcho was pissed.

"Agent Tendo reporting for duty sir!" Dai said, taking an 'at ease' stance, his hands behind his back.

"Spare me the pleasantries kid," the president snapped. Dai was only slightly offended. The 20 year old had endured enough disbelief when he had gotten promoted right out of training. He was almost as legendary as that one police officer from the Racoon City outbreak several years ago. What was her name, ah, he couldn't remember. She was ridiculously cute as a button though, and definitely had some Asian blood in her (RE-0 had Rebecca Chambers modelled simillar to Ayumi Hamasaki, who promoted the game in Japan).

"Sorry sir."

Graham marched over to his desk and motioned for Dai to sit down. He did so, and the president slid a manilla folder towards him. "Read it kid."

Daisuke looked through the files in the folder. He understood that someone of importance had been captured, blah blah blah, sighted somewhere in Spain, yadda yadda, some other junk and then a picture.

"Sir, isn't this your -"

The president slammed his fist into the desk. Daisuke winced, that sounded like it hurt, but the president paid little mind to his red hand.

"Yes dammit, that's my daughter," he sighed, collapsing into his big comfy velvet chair. "She was kidnapped over two hours ago on her way to/from college."

"Is there a rescue team on the case sir?"

"No, we've got enough resources spread thin looking for her," Graham replied. "However, we've just recieved word that a girl strongly resembling my Ashley was sighted in some backwater village in Spain. I've already sent an agent over there, one of our best, Leon S. Kennedy."

Daisuke couldn't help but blurt out, "_The _Leon Kennedy from the Racoon City outbreak?" he gasped. "That guy's a god damn one man army! Shit!"

The president rubbed the bridge of his nose. "One man army or _not_," he growled, "We lost contact with him about three hours ago, and I'm not waiting for a call to tell me if he's dead or not. That's where you come in."

Daisuke frowned. "Me sir?"

The president threw his hands up. "No, my fucking wife!" he snarled. "Yes you! Despite your age and obvious slow wit, you're the second best agent we've got and counting Kennedy, this is my third agent lost!"

Daisuke gave a weak laugh. "Heheheh, are you sure you don't want to risk a fourth? I mean, I'm on it sir!" he hastily added after seeing the look the man gave him.

"You have thirty minutes to grab what you need and then a helicopter will be waiting for you outside. Get going!"

-------

"Thanks," Daisuke said as he recieved his gun. It was a custom Glock model 23 semi-compact pistol. While it was originally a .40 S&W backup weapon, Daisuke modified it for heavier use. He gutted the internals of the pistol and replaced them with custom Glock 18 parts that had been modified to fit inside. The gun's semi-glossed slide had a new fire select switch on the rear of the left side, showing a single dot at the top and two dots at the bottom. The middle was a safety, although the famous "Glock trigger safety" was still there however. The slide was also modified too, having a cut out section at the top front, which showed a gleaming silver compensator barrel. The barrel was custom milled, incorporating the compensator with four portholes running down its length. This helped eliminate nearly all of the recoil. Lastly, the chamber had been modified to use the more common 9X19 parabellum round, which made buying or finding ammunition a lot easier.That being said, the gun could now accept extended long magazines that Glock made, each holding 33 rounds.

Because of the upgrades and mods, the gun could now shoot in semi-auto or full-auto fire, which when combined with the long mags, made shooting hella fun. Not many people would suspect a full auto compact pistol, and surprises were something Daisuke were good at.

After perusing the White House's 'secret' armoury, Daisuke picked out an Insight Technologies TLR-2 weapon light/laser. It was specifically made for Glocks, however it could fit anything with a 20mm rail. It slide onto his pistol's accessory rail effortlessly with a click. This particular model had a Xenon flashlight that put out a bright ass 120 lumens (the same as most Mercedes and BMW headlights) and also featured a high powered laser underneath. A LAM like this made carrying a flashlight pointless.

Daisuke slid the now sexy pistol into his shoulder holster, where it clicked into place with the Fobus holster. It was specially made to fit G19/23 series with an Insight weaponlight. Afterwards, Daisuke used a speedloader to load 9mm hollow point rounds into his clips and mags. The standard clips for a G23 were 15 round compact clips, but he preferred to use the full size G17 mags which held 17 rounds. A spacer/handgrip extender was slid onto the clip so it wouldn't look stuck out. The long magazines held the aforementioned 33 rounds, and were basically double the length.

Dai carried six clips on his shoulder holster. Four in two double mag pouches on the right side (one on top of the other) and two on the left side, under the holster. He also carried four more on his duty belt, two in a double pouch on each side of his hips. On his thighs were triple mag pouches carrying a total of six long mags.

On his back was his sword of course, sheathed between a metal plate lining his back (for protection, the sword had no scabbard) and a hard shell backpack, like what a mountain biker would wear. Inside the pack were several cans of rations and a couple packages of MRE Meals-Ready-to-Eat. There were also two boxes of 9mm ammunition in the unlikely chance he should run out of ammo. There were 50 rounds in each box.

After a moment's thought, Dai decided to pick up a magnum revolver just in case he ran into someone that his 9mm wouldn't put down easily. He picked up a stainless steel Taurus Raging Bull 6 inch. This was one of the most powerful pistols in the world, capable of using a .50 caliber round. Dai chose a more common .44 magnum model and a belt pouch that he filled with 6 speedloaders. He grabbed a doctor's holosight and mounted it to the top rail of the revolver for easier aiming, since this gun couldn't mount a laser. Finding a holster took some time, but he found one that strapped to behind his waist that was made out of leather, and could also fit the Bull with the holosight. Noting that he had less than 5 minutes to get to the chopper, Daisuke clipped the speedloader pouch onto the front of his left side hip and dashed out of the room.

-----

Daisuke looked out of the window of the Dauphin helicopter he was currently in. Normally, the military would have sent him in a UH-1 Huey but the president ordered speed over weapons, so here he was. He had been given a new item, a little PDA like device that unfolded into three sections, showing a keypad and two LCD screens. It was his satellite communicator, and he was linked up with some cute little bird named Hunnigan and Leon's comm, but they couldn't reach him.

"Your mission orders are to find both Ashley Graham and Agent Kennedy got it?" Hunnigan asked, her cute little face looking somewhat stern to him. Dai looked into the tiny camera that projected his image on the right screen. "Roger that," he replied.

He looked out the window. Damn, this whirlybird was fast! They were about an hour away from the little Spanish village named "Pueblo".

"Anything else I should know?" he asked the exotic looking woman. She looked to be at least half Asian and maybe black. Or maybe she was Hawaiian? Her voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Just that this religious cult, the 'Las Illuminatos' is extremely dangerous, and so are the locals," Hunnigan answered. "Oh and that Ashley is locked in some church at the top of a hill, Leon found that out before he went AWOL. Be careful Dai, the locals and this cult could kill you like they did the others."

Giving the concerning hottie a grin, Daisuke said, "There's a chance that Leon's still alive. Plus, there's no way in hell I'm letting those bastards go four for four!"

Hunnigan gave him a small smile. "Glad to hear that agent. I'll talk to you later. In the meantime, I'm sending you a satellite map of the village and other areas."

"Talk to you later," Dai said. Her pretty face dissapeared and several maps came up. Tapping the palm-sized screens with his fingers, Dai pulled up a map of the village. After reviewing them thoroughly, he was jolted when he felt the chopper begin to ascend. _We're here already?_

-----

Daisuke drew his G23 and flicked the selector switch off of Safe to Semi. Holding the gun in both hands, he made through the forested path quickly, noting several slimy puddles of...

"Shit!" Daisuke swore, stopping and checking one out. It looked like gore! "What the hell is going on here?"

He made his way to the village. The smell of smoke and burning meat filled his nostrils as he made his way closer. In the center of the quiet village there was what appeared to be a burning effigy of some sort... _Wait, that's no effigy!_ He thought, running forward. It was barely recognizable, but Dai could make out an officer's uniform. "Shit, what the fuck is going on here?!"

Suddenly, shouts drew his attention away from the burning corpse and Dai spun around to see several crazed looking townspeople pointing weapons of mass farming at him. With a morbid chuckle, Daisuke contemplated about his pathological need to make fun of terribly horrible situations.

"_Matalo!_" a sickly looking man with a beard shouted, brandishing a pickaxe. They charged towards Dai, who stood his ground, holding his pistol in a shooter's stance.

"See ya," he said as he lined his sights up to the closest man's forehead. With a crisp _crack_, the hollow point round slammed into the top of the villager's forehead, shredding chunks of flesh and bone from the back of his head as the bullet crumpled and exploded on impact. He gave a horrid scream of pain and clutched his head.

_Er. Shouldn't he be FUCKING DEAD?_ Dai thought in panic as he shot the other crazies that charged him. Several fell to the ground from a few well-placed knee shots, but the one guy who had been _shot in the head_ gave Dai an insane glare as he dashed towards him.

"No fucking way!" Dai yelled as he squeezed the trigger multiple times, reducing the man's head to a smoking pulp, leaving nothing but a gory chunk of flesh above the neck. The headless body continued to walk towards him, its motor functions still, well, functioning as it took several death steps before collapsing. Dai breathed hard as he emptied the remainder of his clips into the other villager's heads, killing them with well-placed headshots. With a bullet to each side of the head, the hollow points cleanly removed said head easily, and thankfully his slide locked back when the last villager fell, a bloody mess above its neck as it fell to the ground.

Breathing hard, Daisuke quickly ejected the clip and placed it into the dump pouch on his back, just above his waist. He loaded a fresh clip into the gun and thumbed the slide release, the reassuring _click_ telling him he had 17 new bullets to fire.

A sizzling noise drifted into his ears and Daisuke watched in morbid fascination as the bodies seemingly decomposed. _Well that explains the gross puddles_, he thought. Seeing that the coast was clear, Dai pulled out his comm.

"Hunnigan," he greeted the woman. "I made it to the village. There's some seriously _fucked_ up shit going on here!"

She looked confused. "What d'you mean?" she asked. He spun the comm around so that the camera was focused on the puddles.

"Do normal people fucking decompose within seconds after death?" he asked. Sure, he was freaked out. Given the circumstances, he thought it was allowable.

"You're telling me those gross puddles were _people_?" Hunnigan gasped. He turned the comm around.

"Yeah, they were!" he answered. "And what's even more fucked up, the first guy I shot was a clean between the eyes and he was still alive! Like, huge fucking hole in the back of his head and he still came after me!"

"Jesus Christ!" Hunnigan said, her big round eyes even bigger. "Listen Dai, you have to find Ashley and agent Leon _fast_."

"_DADO!_" a voice screamed from behind him. Dai heard the familiar whistle of a blade flying through the air and he dropped quickly, dropped the comm onto the ground. Spinning around quickly, he put some distance between him and his attacker, an even sicker looking hag who was wielding a hand scythe. She made a noise similar to a screeching cat and lunged at him.

Only to be blown back as Dai discharged two rounds, one into her gut and the other in her heart. With a cry, she fell back several feet and lay on the ground, moaning. Getting up quickly, Dai put two more rounds into her forehead, killing her instantly. Although her head wasn't blown to bits, she still decomposed, so that meant she was dead.

Holstering his G23, Dai picked up the comm to see an ashen faced Hunnigan. "See what I mean?" he asked.

She looked at him, still somewhat in shock. "I've got to talk to my CO," she shakily said. "Uh, continue on your mission."

Dai gave her a worried look. "Don't fall apart on me Hunnigan," he said. "You're safe and sound, remember that."

She gave him an unconvincing smile. "Yeah. Yeah, see you later."

Dai was about to turn off his comm when he heard Hunnigan yell, "Wait!"

"What is it?" he asked.

"The path to your right should take you directly to the church," she informed him, a digital map showing his location and a red dot to the east. "If you see a cemetary before a big cathedral, that's the place. Leon says that the front door needs some sort of round object to unlock it. See if you can find it!"

"Can't I just break a window?" Dai asked.

Hunnigan looked floored. "Oh crap, why didn't Leon and I think of that?" she moaned.

Dai shook his head sadly. "You agent types," he sighed. "think way too much."

-----

Fortunetely, all the village folk seemed to be at some social gathering of some sort, because Daisuke ran into none of them on his way to the church. After passing through the freaky cemetary (how the hell can this area be so dark when it was just reaching dusk back at the village 10 minutes ago?!) he came up to the iron gates of the church, which were fortuntely open. Glancing up at the impressive cathedral, Dai spotted a nice big window on the right side, above a small section with a metal door on it. Holstering his pistol, Dai used the large tree in front to get up.

Hanging by his hands, Dai moved towards the right section on a branch. When he was close enough, he swung himself forward and managed to land onto the top. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Dai moved towards the side of the church cathedral, looking through the stained panes of glass with his gun at his side. It looked empty, which was good. Standing a fair distance away, Dai aimed his pistol at the window. He fired three shots in a triangle formation and shattered the window expertly. Moving quickly, Dai heaved himself into the church and dropped down from the ledge. Moving to the middle, he stood amongst the benches and looked around. There was a table at the alter and some wierd symbol lit up on the wall. Looking around, he saw nothing that would indicate a lost blonde girl. Walking up to the alter, Dai spotted pile of shiny coins lying on a dresser on the left. Picking them up, he noticed that they were indeed real gold and silver and about the size of a quarter. They looked like Spanish pesatas. A couple said 2_5 PTAS _while the rest said _50 PTAS_. Doing the match, Dai calcuated that there was 1000 PTAS worth of coins. He found a drawbag and put the coins inside, maybe they could be of use later. He put the coinbag into his backpack.

Something caught his sharp ears. It sounded like a whimper. Dai pulled his Glock out and scanned the area. Thankfully, the church wasn't the large, but he noticed a second floor as he looked up. Walking around, he found a ladder on the left side and climbed up.

The upper floor was blocked up by two iron gates so Dai had to swing on the chandelier to get to the other side. Spying a sort of console, he pushed a button. Three different colored lights lit up the three empty circles on the wall. They were red, green and blue. The center circle with the symbol looked to be a combination of the three. With some quick thinking, Dai used the console to rotate the colors until they were in what he thought to be the correct positions. He pushed the big red button. The lights swirled together and the center symbol flashed brightly. A loud series of clicks were heard and the iron gates receded upwards into the ceiling.

"Nice!" Daisuke said as he ran towards the sound of the whimpers, which had gotten louder. He found a metal door and heard the whimpers even louder now. He slowly opened the door, pistol at the ready...

Only to duck as a 2X4 flew by his head and a girlish scream of "Stay away!" stung his ears.

He spotted the blonde hair of Ashley Graham as he held his hands up. "Hey easy there, I'm not one of those freak villagers!" he said.

The girl had sunk to the floor near some barrels and looked, for the part, like a traumatized hostage. Oh wait, she _was_ one.

_There goes my pathological illness again_, Daisuke chuckled. "I'm a US government agent, I'm here to rescue you, and that idiot who was supposed to rescue you!"

"Really?" Ashley asked excitely. "My father sent you!"

"Unfortuntely," Dai said dryly. "I'm Daisuke Tendo."

"Well you know who I am then," Ashley said as she stood up briskly, brushing the dirt from her plaid skirt. It was amusing to see an emotional wreck of a girl turn into this brisk woman. "Can we go now?"

"Just a moment," Dai said, using his leg to kick open some barrels. He had found out earlier that they sometimes held herbs or surprisingly, ammo. Well, he didn't really find out, he tripped and fell on one, nearly crushing a box of shotgun shells. Who the hell hides ammunition in a damn barrel?

Daisuke found a nearly empty box of 9mm ammo and counted the rounds. There were 10 total. He found another box like it and transferred its 10 rounds over, making a box of 20 rounds. He also found a green herb and two 12 gauge buckshot shells in a flour mix. Blowing off the powder, he put his new finds into his backpack.

A sudden mechanical noise drew their attention, and Dai readied his pistol. The door was closed, and they heard movement downstairs. The movement soon reached the second floor and Dai tensed as the doorknob began to turn. Ashley hid behind him, and grabbed his left hand. He squeezed it comfortingly. The door opened and Dai's laser dot fixed itself upon the head of -

"Whoa, wait!"

Leon S. Kennedy.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Forgive my horrible Spanish, for this humble writer uses el crappo translator! Now, I'm trying to make this story a little more realistic than the game. Hence, Daisuke's backpack that can carry stuff. Leon doesn't have his attache case, since running around with one is _really_ unrealistic, so he's going to have much less weapons this time around. Makes things more interesting don't you think? No .45ACP Chicago Typewriter aka M1A1 Thompson this round!

Chapter 2

"Whoa, wait!"

It was the missing agent, well one of them, Leon S. Kennedy. Daisuke quickly put his G23 down, the laser turning off when his fingertips eased off the pressure pad on the pistol's grip.

His comm beeped. He opened it up to Hunnigan's face.

"Dai, Leon's alive, he's heading - oh he's there already, nevermind," she said cheerfully, cutting off. Dai blinked. He then put the comm back into its pouch.

Holstering his gun, he let go of Ashley's hand and reached out to shake Leon's. "Agent Daisuke Tendo," he greeted.

"Agent Leon S. Kennedy," Leon said back. "So they sent another guy huh?"

"Well they thought you were dead like the two agents before you," Daisuke explained.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Something the president failed to mention to _me_," he muttered. "Is Ashley ok?"

"As well as can be expected," she spoke up, shaking Leon's hand. "Can we _please_ get the hell out of here?"

"Agreed," Dai said quickly. "This is just too damn freaky to me!"

"Ah, so you've run into the Ganados eh?" Leon asked. "The villagers?"

"That's what they're called?" Daisuke asked in disbelief. "'Cattle'?"

"Nearly mindless zombies," Leon sighed. "You've heard of the Racoon City outbreak?"

"Who hasn't?" both Dai and Ashley replied at the same time. They looked at eachother and Ashley blushed while Daisuke smirked.

"It was the work of Umbrella, they were experimenting with some sort of virus that turns people into monsters and zombies."

"Normally I'd say you were full of shit," Dai said, recieving a piercing glare from the older man. "But after putting a bullet into one guy's forehead and then see him give me a dirty look, I think you know what you're talking about."

Leon sighed again. "I know, with a zombie it takes a shot to the head to kill it. These Ganados are draining my ammo. And you wouldn't believe what I had to fight on the way here!"

"What?" Daisuke asked curiously.

"An overgrown salamander and a giant troll."

"You're shitting - wait, never mind. Damn!"

Leon chuckled, pulling out a "Farmer's" shotgun that was slung to his back. "Used up all of my shells, and I've just got a clip and a half for my USP," he bemoaned.

Daisuke smiled. "Hey, I found some shotgun shells," he offered, reaching over his left shoulder and pressing a button on his shell backpack. It gave a little whirring noise and detached itself from his shoulder holster/sword holster combo. Bringing it forward, Dai opened it and pulled out a small green box of shotgun shells. "There's seven in here, take them!"

Leon gave him a wide smile. "Hey, thanks!" He quickly loaded all seven shells into the shotgun. It was a full stock, full length model, so it actually held 8 total. "Better than nothing. Do you have any 9mm rounds?"

"Yeah, tons," Daisuke replied, pulling out a larger red box. "Brought extras with me, and found some here too." He tossed a full box of 50 rounds to Leon. "Enjoy!"

"You're a lifesaver," Leon said appreciatively. He pulled out the clip from his USP and thumbed 4 rounds into it. Sliding it back into the gun, he pulled out 5 more clips. Pushing 6 rounds into the half full clip, he slide it back into a pouch on his shoulder holster. He quickly loaded 12 rounds into 3 more mags and was left with 1 empty mag. Daisuke tossed him the box with 20 rounds. With another nod and smile, Leon loaded the last clip up and took the remaining 6 bullets and put them into his zippered pocket on his cargo pants. When met with Daisuke's questioning look, he said, "Beats having that big box."

Leon quickly replaced his clips into his pouches. He had two in his shoulder pouches, two in a double pouch on his left hip, another two on the right and the last double pouch was on a thigh rig on his left leg. He had another holster on his right thigh on a drop rig. Daisuke wondered why he had an empty shoulder holster. Leon pumped the handle on the shotgun, chambering a deadly buckshot round.

"Let's get out of this dump!"

He quickly contacted Hunnigan, who was ecstatic that they had found Ashley. A helicopter was being sent from the Spanish government to pick them up near the village, where Leon had first arrived. They quickly made their way down the ladder. Daisuke looked at Ashley's white panties in interest as Leon caught her as she jumped down. He really didn't think the 20 year old would wear teddy bear panties.

They headed for the front door.

"I'll be taking the girl."

Both agents spun around, pistols drawn. In front of them was a freakish looking old man, who carried an equally freakish looking staff that looked like tentacles.

"Oh yeah?" Leon asked snidely. "And just who might you be?"

"I am -"

"Holy shit it's Emperor Palpatine!" Daisuke all but shouted.

The silence was palpable as everyone looked at him.

"An amusing partner you have there Mister Kennedy," the ugly old man chuckled. "I am Osmund Saddler."

Daisuke then did his customary zoning out as the Saddler guy droned on about world domination etc. Ashley's small hand found her way into his. He looked down at her and gave her a grin and wink. She blushed furiously and her velvety hands gripped his hand tighter. She was adorable!

The slamming of the doors snapped Dai into automatic action as he bolted, dragging Ashley after him. He leapt through the window, Ashley right behind him as two hooded freaks shot arrows from their crossbows, nearly hitting Ashley in the head. Leon fired a couple of shots in their general direction and leapt out as well.

"FOOLS! KILL THEM!" Saddler bellowed. "But the girl must live! Go you imbeciles!"

The sound of a metallic click caught Leon's attention. He turned to Daisuke, who gave him a grin as he held a grenade in one hand, and a pin in the other. With a nonchalent shrug, Dai popped the top of the grenade, cooking it and he tossed it through the window, back into the church.

"_Granada -!_"

BOOOOOM!

Dai gave a slightly deranged laugh - one that Leon and Ashley looked worriedly at him for - and unholstered his Glock. "Well, let's get a move on!"

They unlocked the door and appeared at the front of the church. Shouts in Spanish drew their attention to the cemetary where a large group of "Ganados" were standing, holding torches an weapons. Strangely, there was a cart full of barrels of gunpowder at the top of the hill. Either these freaks were unorganized or just really stupid...

Leon shot the cart and it exploded, wheeling down to the large group of Ganados. They screamed as it impacted into them and exploded even more. Leon grabbed Ashley's hand and they made their way down the hill. Some of the Ganados were still alive however, and it looked as if they were outnumbered. Leon began firing into the large crowd, taking tactical shots as he disposed of them. A shot to the leg drove them to their knees where they were pretty much executed with several shots to the face.

Still, there had to be at least 10 Ganados, and Leon ran out of ammo. They were getting close, and several were a few feet away as he reached for a new clip...

BAM! BAM!

The closest one fell and decomposed from Dai's shots. Leon and Ashley backed up as the exotic agent ran forward and flicked the selector switch on the slide. Tilting the G23 to the left, Dai fired at the right side of the mob, using the heavy recoil from full auto the sweep the gun to the left, pouring automatic fire into every Ganado's forehead. When the gun spewed out its remaining 15 rounds very quickly, all that was left of the Ganados were puddles of gore.

Leon and Ashley came up beside Daisuke as he ejected the clip into his dump pouch and slapped a new one into the gun.

"Handy little feature you got there," Leon said dryly.

"It gets the job done," Daisuke responded. "Why didn't you use the shotgun?"

Leon grimaced. "I was saving the ammo," he said. "Believe me, there are worse things out here."

"Well shit."

-----

It was getting very dark by the time they made it back into the village. Local time said it was just nearly 9PM and with the dark came unseen enemies. Leon had switched on his tac-light on his belt and Dai set his LAM to Light/Laser mode. The made their way back into the village through the building with the big red Illuminatos symbol with Ashley wedged safely in the middle.

"_Allá cada uno!_"

"I take it we've been spotted," Dai said tersely as he thumbed the Glock's selector switch to Semi.

"You got that right," Leon said, readying his USP as a small group of Ganados converged on them. Ashley was safely behind them as she crouched on the ground and held her hands to her ears as they opened fire, searing hot bullets tearing into the skulls of the villagers. Dai and Leon alternated shooting, so that when one ran out of ammunition, the other would pick up the fire while he reloaded. It was extremely effective as all the Ganados were killed quickly.

Daisuke performed a tactical reload and swapped his half empty clip for a full one. He placed the half empty clip into his right hip pouch, noting where it was so he didn't have an ugly surprise in the future. Leon slid a fresh clip into his USP.

They continued their journey to the other side of the village where a gate would lead them to their new destination. Hunnigan had called with bad news earlier, and told them that their chopper had been shot down. They were to make their way to another point away from the village and work from their way there.

"Say Leon," Dai said suddenly, wanting to make conversation. "That's a nice USP there, are those grips custom?"

Leon held up his gun and showed off the mahogany hand grips. "Yeah, back when I worked with the RPD I saw that the S.T.A.R.S. officers carried custom Beretta M9s with wood grips, and I always wanted one."

"It's a nice look for a USP, gives it an old-school look," Daisuke complemented.

Leon chuckled. "Thanks. You're little Glock is a package of surprises huh? That full auto nearly made me crap my pants."

Daisuke grinned. "That's the point. Psycological warfare!"

"Ugh, what is it with boys and guns?" Ashley muttered.

-----

The farm was ominous, and Dai could see the glowing yellow eyes of several Ganados in the distance. Leon spotted a container and told Ashley to hide in it while they handled the villagers.

"_Vamanos! Es ellos!_"

"Here they come," Daisuke muttered. Two on the left, one on the right. It looked like two were on the catwalk as well. Dai put one old man on the left out of his misery with a shot to the leg, which made him fall face first and then two shots to the top of his head. Leon splattered his friends' brains with three shots and they easily got rid of the one on the right. The man and hag on the catwalk jumped down and headed towards the duo.

Daisuke shot the woman twice in the face rapidly, and Leon killed the man. Suddenly, the woman's head exploded in a cacophony of bone, gore and gray matter. A yellow _thing_ sprouted from her torn wide neck and her eyes - still attached to whatever was left of her brain - were now swaying about along with the tentacle like blades that sprouted up.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" Daisuke shouted, firing at the thing. Three of his shots missed due to the thin tentacles flying about erratically, but another two finally caused the thing to explode.

"Las Plagas," Leon panted. "It's some sort of parasite that has taken over all these people. Causes disgusting mutations, almost as bad as the T-virus."

"Fuck!" Dai spluttered, still in shock. Government agents were trained to expect the unexpected, but this shit was just ludacris! Half-dead villagers with explody heads? Motherfucking dogs with motherfucking tentacles remniscant of the flim, _The Thing_? Giant salamanders and trolls that Leon talked about? Daisuke was _not_ trained to handle these things!

Leon noticed the younger agent's panic attack. "Hey calm down, we'll get through this, don't worry!" he said reassuringly. "I've been through worse."

"That's nothing to be proud of," Dai muttered, but he had calmed down. Leon gave him an amused grin and whistled for Ashley to come out. Daisuke went to collect a few pesatas that the villagers had left behind when they decomposed. He even found a box of shotgun shells, which he gave to Leon right away.

"Nice, ten shells!" Leon said. He thumbed a shell into the shotgun, which made it full. "That leaves a full reload and a spare."

"I haven't even touched my revolver," Dai admitted, patting his back to make sure it was there. "Figure I'll save it for the big nasties."

"Good idea," Leon said. "Our pistols are more than enough around the village, and there always seems to be ammo for them lying around." He was now thumbing his last 6 bullets into a clip. Pulling out a box, Daisuke refilled his three clips that he had been using. Working with a partner made saving ammunition easier. They had found a few more boxes of 9mm ammo spread throughout the village and surrounding areas and stocked up on the precious bullets. After filling his clips, Daisuke tossed the box away and gave Leon the last one, which was thankfully full. Since Leon carried less clips for his USP, Daisuke figured he'd need the bullets more.

"Alright, I'm done, let's go!" Leon ordered. They made their way into the white barn and climbed the ladder. Leon led them out the windowsill and onto the catwalk, where they jumped down to the fenced off area with the huge wooden door.

"I think I can climb over if one of you gives me a boost," Ashley said with a little confidence. She was trying to be useful.

"We don't really know what's on the other side," Daisuke argued. "I think I should go over, we don't want you getting hurt or captured if there are Ganados over there!"

Leon nodded. "Dai's right Ashley, stay here."

Ashley nodded, she wasn't really angry Dai thought. It was good that she accepted what they said without getting mad. She had a good head on top of her slender shoulders. Actually she had good everything on her. _Riiiight, anyways..._

Their fears were unfounded when Dai found nothing on the other side. Removing the wooden bar, he called to Leon that it was unlocked. The large doors opened soon after and Leon and Ashley came through. Heading down the pathway, Dai noticed a figure standing between two blue torches. He raised his G23.

"No wait, he's a friendly!" Leon warned, placing his hand on Dai's arm. Dai lowered his weapon. They made their way to a cloaked figure who was carrying a large burlap backpack full of god knows what.

"Hello stranga's," he leered in a cockney accent. Well, at least this one spoke interest. "There be more o'ya now eh? Mi' I interest you in somefing?"

He pulled his backpack off and rolled it on the ground, revealing several weapons and boxes. Opening his trenchcoat, he had even more wares.

"Got plen'y of _good_ things for sale, stranga's!" he said proudly.

Now Daisuke was glad he picked up all the pesatas. There was some pretty good stuff lying there!

"Dibs on the TMP!" Leon said, picking up said weapon. After some bartering with the merchant, he bought it for a discounted price of 12,000 PTAS with the TMP stock. It would have normally cost 14,000. Leon also bought three more extended mags with it, and traded the short clip for another long mag plus 300PTAS on top. Another 200 got him a single-point sling, which he slung onto himself and clipped the TMP to the end. Now the gun hung on his chest securely and could be drawn instantly.

Unfortunetely, the TMP used slightly longer 9mm rounds, so they couldn't use their pistol ammo with it. Leon wished he could have gotten a nice MP5K instead, but beggers can't be choosers. Luckily the TMP mags were already loaded with FMJ rounds, so he had 120 rounds worth of ammo. He bought a triple thigh pouch to hold the TMP mags. Sadly, he had to sell his original double pistol clip pouch, but he got a belt-clip double pouch in return from the merchant.

Daisuke spotted another shotgun in the mix, and several pistols. He didn't need a heavy shotgun weighing him down, so he passed over it. The pistols were of the garden variety bunch, another 9mm USP, a Glock 17 and strangely, a freaking FN Five-SeveN. How the hell did this guy get an armour piercing pistol?

"Hey man, how much for the 5-7?" Daisuke asked. It couldn't hurt to have some more punch.

"20,000 stranga!" the merchant replied. "It uses special 5.7mm rounds, and can punch a 'ole through two targets in a row!"

"Do you _have_ any 5.7AP rounds? Daisuke asked.

"Wot d'yeh take me for, a backwa'er deala?" the merchant laughed. "O course I got AP rounds!"

Daisuke nodded. "Alright, I'll give you 25,000 for the gun, 4 mags and ammo."

The merchant stroked his cheek in thought. Daisuke decided to sweeten the deal. "And I'll throw in an extra 5,000 for a duty belt, hip holster, two double mag pouches and a small dump pouch!"

"Deal, stranga."

"What do you need those for?" Leon asked. "You don't exactly have much room."

"It's not for me," Daisuke said as he gave the merchant all of his pesatas. "It's for Ashley."

"What?" Ashley shrieked. "I can't shoot a gun! I've never held one in my life!"

"I'll teach you, don't worry," Dai said. Seeing her unconvinced look, he added, "You need to be able to protect yourself if either me or Leon are out of action."

Ashley finally sighed. "Okay, fine," she pouted. It looked cute on her.

"You got 31,675PTAS," the merchant said. "You 'ave 1,675 left ova stranga."

"Keep it and make me a tab," Dai replied. "I'd rather carry more ammo than a bunch of coins."

"I'll put ya on my list stranga," the merchant said, jotting down what looked to be '_Black haired fellow - 1675_'.

"Might as well take what I have left as well," Leon said. The merchant wrote '_Blonde - 6520_'

Once they were done, the merchant rolled up his things and gave them a wave before heading off. "I'll see you later, strangas."

"What an interesting fellow," Daisuke said, rolling his eyes. He walked over to Ashley. "Arms up, there we go."

He wrapped the duty belt around her oh-so-slender waist and tightened so it would fit snugly on her hips. A good tug made sure it wouldn't slide off. He then attached the holster to her right side and the mag pouches on her left. Taking the 5-7 out, he put it in her hands.

"Ok, legs shoulder-width apart," he ordered as she complied. "That's good, now both hands on the gun, make sure you're not touching the trigger yet. Left hand on top of the right, make yourself comfortable."

Ashley shifted her fingers around until the gun fit nicely into her small hands. Fortuntely the 5-7 was a small gun, so it fit her hands perfectly.

"Alright now make sure you have a firm grip on the gun," Daisuke said. "See that laser on the bottom there? Squeeze the handgrip."

A red dot appeared on a tree about 20 feet away from them.

"Good, you just pretty much hit whatever that dot's on."

"I've played some video games," Ashley said in annoyance. "I have some idea on how to aim a gun, just not shoot one!"

Daisuke laughed. "Fair enough," he said. "Now, the safety is where your right thumb is. Flick it down."

A click now made the gun deadly.

"Breath evenly, and shoot the tree whenever you're ready."

Ashley took about a minute to feel ready before squeezing the trigger. The 5-7 made a unique _pop_ as it fired off a round of lethal armor piercing metal. It smacked into the tree, slightly to the left but hit the tree nonetheless.

"Good job!" Daisuke and Leon cheered. Ashley blushed madly as she lowered the gun.

"Thanks you guys!" she said happily. "This gun has almost no kick to it at all!"

Leon nodded. "It's because of the rounds it fires. They're so small that there's hardly any muzzle kick. Not to mention the very comfortable grip on it."

"Just make sure you aim for their heads!" Daisuke warned. "That gun should be able to hit two in a row since the Ganados are basically rotting away. The bullets for that gun are rare so make sure not to waste any!"

"Ok," Ashley said determinedly, holding the gun tightly in her hands. She looked quite sexy like that, gun in her hand and all. "How many bullets does each clip hold?"

"Twenty rounds," Leon answered. He would know. "So that gives you eighty rounds total."

He looked over to the wooden bridge and the area behind it. "Come on, let's get over there and see what Hunnigan says."

As they crossed the bridge, loud shouting caught their attention. The trio whirled around, guns in hand as they saw a huge crowd of Ganados run up the pathway.

"Great," Leon spat, turning around. "Shit!"

There was another large mob of villagers coming out of the giant wooden barricades. Leon saw the house not too far away.

"Quickly, over there!"

They ran inside just as the villagers reached them. Leon and Dai held the door as the Ganados pounded onto it.

"Leon, here!"

Leon turned around to catch a 2X4. He saw Luis grin at him. "Luis, nice to see you again," Leon said as he barred the door shut. Daisuke let out a long breath as he backed away and started to push bookcases in front of the windows.

"Small world eh? Who's the new guy?" Luis asked.

"He's another agent like me," Leon answered.

"Ah, I see," Luis said with a nod to Dai. He helped Ashley to her feet, shying away from the gun in her hands. He caught a look at her generous C cups (AN: They're probably much larger but hey, my story, my cleavage). "Well, I see that the president's equipped his daughter with... _ballistics_ too!"

Ashley's left eye twitched as she glared at Luis. "How rude!" she cried above the pounding at the door and windows. "And I don't believe there's any relevance with my figure and _standing_. Who are you?"

Luis raised an eyeball at the blond firecracker. "Ho ho!" he chortled. "Excuse me Your Highness! Perhaps the young lady might want to introduce herself first before asking someone his name?"

"Her name's Ashley Graham, the president's daughter?" she huffed, still eyeing him.

Giving her an odd look, Luis leaned towards Leon. "Is she... y'know?"

"Don't worry, she's cool," Leon said absentmindedly as he held his TMP at his shoulder. The windows were all but broken as the villagers pounded on the bookcases.

"Ah, never mind," Luis muttered, "There's supposed to be some obvious symptom before you turn into one of them anyways."

He pulled an old looking pistol from his waistband. Daisuke spotted it.

"Cool is that a Ruger Red9?" he asked. Luis grinned cockily as he twirled it in his finger.

"Yes it is," he answered, stopped the gun and aiming at the front window. "Been helped out in sticky situations with this baby enough times."

"They're getting in!" Ashley screamed as the bookcase near the fireplace shattered and fell over.

"Ashley, hide upstairs!" Leon yelled, firing a burst into the Ganado that appeared in the window.

Then chaos exploded as the other bookcases fell over.


	3. Chapter 3

If anyone was wondering, the Glock 23 that Daisuke carries is actually based off of a fictional airsoft gun. Go check out KSC GLock 23f, it's pretty sweet. I have one and it roxors my soxors.

* * *

Chapter 3

"But I can help!" Ashley complained, shooting a Ganado in the forehead. The bullet tore through his skull and slammed into the chest of the Ganado behind him. Both fell from the window.

"You need to save your ammo, and we need to keep you safe!" Leon bellowed. "Go hide upstairs, please!"

"Okay!" Ashely consented, dashing up the stairs. Dai faintly heard a door open and click shut. He shot a Ganado that was crawling into the front window, and with a loud screech, he fell out, knocking over his compadres behind him.

"There's got to be at least fifty out there!" Luis shouted, blowing a man's head off with his powerful Ruger Red9. "Leon, here!" He tossed a green box of shotgun shells to Leon. Leon quickly pocketed the shells and let go of his TMP. The SMG fell across his chest as he reached behind and drew the mighty boomstick. The Ganados were piling into the house now and they were surrounded by at least 10 of them, several with Las Plagas sticking out of their necks.

BOOM!

A crowd of 4 villagers were torn to shreds from the close quarters shot from Leon's shotgun. Daisuke and Luis used their pistols to keep the Ganados at the other side of the room at bay. Leon pumped the shotgun and blew them away, killing most instantly. Dai and Luis shot the survivors on the floor in their heads.

"There's too many! Get upstairs!" Luis shouted, grabbing a green and yellow herb from the kitchen area. He spied a box of shotgun shells and tossed them to Leon as Dai provided cover fire. They all ran upstairs.

Dai noticed that his G23 was empty, so he moved his arm to his back where the butt of the gun met the open end of the dump pouch. Thumbing the mag release, the empty clip slid into the dump pouch and he reached down to his thigh and pulled out a long mag. Sliding it into the Glock, Daisuke put on an evil grin as he flicked the selector switch down to auto.

The windows shattered as ladders were propped up onto the windowsills. Each man took a window to defend. Leon took the front window, so he could not only defend that but the stairs as well with his shotgun. Daisuke took the middle and Luis took the back window.

BOOM!

A group of Ganados toppled down the stairs. Leon chambered a new shell and used the stock of the shotgun to hit a Ganado who was climbing the ladder. With a scream, the rotting man fell 2 stories down and Leon shoved the ladder off the window, causing another Ganado to fall as well.

Dai and Luis followed Leon's example and shoved their respective ladders away. Only Daisuke spotted a red incendiary grenade on the bookshelf next to him.

"What the hell?" he muttered, picking it up. He pulled the pin and popped the top before dropping it out of the window. Screams of agony could be heard from below as the superheated phosphorus grenade burned the villagers on his side alive, along with their ladder.

_Well, that takes care of the window - shit, Leon!_

Leon had been struck with an axe from a Ganado that had made it up the stairs. It didn't look serious, but Leon recoiled in pain as the Ganado went to strike agian. Dai snapped his gun up and blew the man's face into the painting on the wall. "Leon, you ok?"

"I'll live!" Leon yelled, pumping buckshot down the stairs. Luis seemed to be handling himself well so Dai ran over to help Leon. Pushing the newly errected ladder down again, Daisuke stuck his arm out the window and fired a burst into the crowd below. Since they were high up, all of his shots his right into the villager's heads, killing them quickly.

Finally, the droves of Ganados began to thin and with a few words spoken in Spanish, they all ran away. Daisuke let out a huge breath of relief while the other two men did the same. A click alerted their eyes to the closet in the corner as Ashley stepped out of it.

"Is it over?"

They all nodded. Leon looked out the window. The wooden bridge they had crossed had been destroyed, no doubt by the villagers so they could only go forward now. "So what do we do now?"

"I forgot something," Luis said casually. "You guys go on ahead..." and he dissapeared downstairs.

Daisuke looked outside the window. Luis was walking away when he stopped and turned to his left, appearing to talk to someone. Dai craned his body out the window and could just barely make out something red before he was pulled inside by Leon.

"What's wrong?" Leon asked. Dai looked outside again. Luis was gone and so was the red thing. Maybe it was his imagination.

"Nothing, thought I saw something," Daisuke answered. "Should we bet a move on?"

They exited the house and wandered around the outside, all three of them picking up cash and items. Ashley found some more pistol and shotgun ammo while the two men found two green herbs and pistol ammo in the woodshed. Leon found a box of TMP ammo at a woodpile. They noticed blue fire near the wooden barricade and the merchant waved at them.

"That cut looks right nasty stranga," the merchant commented on Leon's shoulder wound. "A green herb or two should fix that up. The herbs on this here island 'ave amazin' 'ealing properties."

"Is that so?" Leon asked. "Reminds me of Racoon City. So I suppose I crush them up and eat them right?"

"Exactly."

Daisuke and Ashley watched, amazed, as Leon ate up two green herbs and his gash seemed to close up right before their eyes.

"I gotta get me some more of that!" Daisuke commented. He currently had 4 green herb roots, 2 yellow ones and a red one.

"Good stuff, init?" the merchant laughed. "If you combine them, they get more potent see. You can only combine up to three parts of herbs, and one red, yellow and green one will not only heal you from certain _death_, but give you a massive power boost! You can of course, mix three green herbs together to get the same thing, minus the power boost. Now, I got a new inventory you might wanna see!"

He rolled out his backpack, which was even larger now. Daisuke spotted a newer shotgun and a rifle in the bag, as well as an ancient looking revolver. The shotgun was a Remington 870 pump action, and it looked like it had a custom shock-absorbing stock on it. It was also slightly shorter than Leon's farmer shotgun. The rifle looked like an old Springfield rifle, which could hold 5 rounds in an ejectable clip that held the bullets together. There was a decent scope mounted onto it. The revolver was a ghetto old Colt Single Action Army. A .44 caliber beast that required you to cock the hammer before every shot.

"Hey Leon, you should trade shotguns," Dai said, picking up the 870. This is a helluva lot better than your farmer's shottie."

"That'll be 32,000!" the merchant said. "If you trade, I'll take the Benelli for... 13,000. That'll make the Remington 19,000 total."

Leon and Dai piled their coins onto the merchants' fold out table. "Sounds fair to me," Leon said, pumping the shotgun and picking up the shells.

"You've got 105,800PTAS," the merchant drawled. "Would you like anything else?"

"Got any mags or ammo for our guns?" Leon asked. The merchant opened a small attache case which held boxes of ammo.

"All I could find on short notice, strangas."

"Alright, let's see what we'll need," Daisuke said, delving into his backpack. He counted a total of 48 9mm rounds, 11 shotgun shells and the new box of 30 TMP rounds.

"Might as well stock up on everything," Leon said wisely.

"The 9mm rounds are 2500 for a box of 50," the merchant said. "A box of 15 shells with run yeh 3000. The special TMP rounds are 4500 for a box of 100 (I'll give yeh a discount strangas, since you're buyin' so much) and you're in luck because I have a 60 round box of AP bullets. That'll cost yeh 3000."

The merchant reached into his gag bag and pulled out a backpack similar to Dai's, but it was a normal one that didn't have the doodads that Dai's had, like the built into sword sheath and shoulder holster attachments. "I saw your friend with one so I thought you might want somfing to carry your stuff with," he said.

"Thank you, how much is it?" Leon asked as he put it on.

"Consider it on the 'ouse!" the merchant said. "You blokes are making me a rich man 'ere!"

They decided to pool Daisuke and Leon's cash together so the merchant added 8195PTAS to their total. They bought the 2 boxes of 9mm ammo, all the shotgun shells (3 boxes worth: 45 shells) and the single boxes of TMP and AP rounds. Their total came to 40,500PTAS and the merchant deducted it from their large tab.

"You got 65,300PTAS on your tab strangas," the merchant announced after counting out the coins. "You sure I can't interest yeh in the rifle? I cleaned and modified it myself!"

"Modified?" Leon asked.

The merchant looked affronted. "Of course!" he cried. "What makes a firearm betta? A firearm that shoots 'arder, faster, and can hold more rounds, that's what!"

"Can you upgrade our guns?" Leon asked. He gave his USP to the merchant. He looked it over and ejected the mag. Racking the slide back, he caught the bullet from the chamber and put it back into the clip. Pressing the slide release lever, he dismantled the pistol.

After some more tinkering, he looked up at Leon. "I can modify the hammer assembly and the recoil spring battery at this time," he announced. "That should give you slightly more power and less recoil. It should also allow you to shoot as fast as you can squeeze the trigger stranga."

Leon was definitely interested. "How much?" he asked.

"10,000PTAS. It's what I call 'Level 2 upgrade," the merchant said. Level one is just the hammer assembly."

"Do it," Leon said happily. The merchant dove into a toolkit and an aluminum case. Pulling out tools and parts, he quickly modified Leon's pistols and put it back together like a pro.

"You'll be 'appier with it now stranga," he said. He turned to Daisuke. "Wot about you?"

Daisuke shook his head. "I've modified mine myself," he said. "Thanks anyways."

The merchant nodded. "No problem, how bout the young miss then?" he asked, holding his hand out to Ashley. She gave him her 5-7. "I can also increase the firing rate and power on this. I also 'ave some extended magazines for sale as well. The hold 40 rounds each. I 'ave 2."

"We'll take them," Leon said after seeing Ashley nod. "And a double magazine pouch like Daisuke's, if you've got one."

The merchant let out a hacking laugh. "Course I do stranga! Your total for this is 16,000."

Soon, Ashley's pistol was finished and she sported to new long mags on her left thigh.

"Just to remind you, you've got 39,300PTAS left. Now, I got some business to attend to, so good luck strangas! The right loves bouldas and the left relies 'eavily on laddas!"

He waved at them again and dissapeared into the night. The trio looked at eachother warily.

"What the hell did that mean?" Daisuke asked as they walked over to the barricade. They found a lever that could be pushed left or right.

"Which way?" Ashley asked. "These obviously open a different door on each side."

"Right loves boulders and left relies on ladders," Daisuke said thoughtfully. "Neither sound good."

"Think we should split up?" Leon asked. "Ashley and I will go left and you take right?"

"I don't think we should..." Ashley said worriedly, giving Dai a scared look. "What if he gets hurt?"

"I'll be fine," Dai said, hoping he was right. "I'll crank the lever first."

He pulled it to the right and the gears grinded together, opening the right door. "Good luck guys! Make sure you answer your comm if I call!"

"I got it!" Leon called as Daisuke dissapeared.

-----

Daisuke wandered down what looked like a small canyon. There were platforms on each side that had rope lines crisscrossing back and forth, each holding a bucket or cart. He took note of the bolder on the left side, which was held up by a wooden board and stick. As Daisuke made his way over to the wooden wall, he noticed with dismay that the door was chained locked with three chains.

ROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!

Daisuke spun around with his Glock in hand as the earth trembled. A giant... THING had jumped down into the canyon and boy was it ugly. This must have been what Leon called a "troll". It was easily at least 20 feet high and putrid looking. It began to stomp angrily towards him. Quickly holstering his Glock, Daisuke pulled out the big revolver and flicked the holosight on. A red circle appeared in it's holographic heads up display and he targeted the troll's head.

BAM!

The troll recoiled from the powerful .44mag round and roared in thunderous pain. Dai fired another shot into its head and noticed that the troll was standing under the boulder! With a very careful aim, Daisuke fired and shattered the stick holding the boulder up. The boulder rolled down the canyon wall just as the troll stood up again.

With a painful bellow, the troll was knocked down by the heavy boulder, the giant rock actually splitting into several pieces after hitting the troll. It didn't look dead however, just fazed. Daisuke turned around quickly and blasted the chains on the door. Three shots later and he knew he had one left in the cylinder. He quickly ripped the shattered chains away and kicked down the door as the troll thundered to its feet. He ran into the next area which had three wooden shacks and another boulder held up by a stick. Running quickly, Daisuke felt wood hit his back as the troll blasted through the wall after him. Running to the other side, Daisuke trained his Raging Bull at the stick just as the troll ran up under it.

BAM!

Daisuke had to laugh at the image before him. The troll had looked up just to see the boulder smash it right on its ugly ass nose and once again, it fell to the ground. Snapping the gun to the left, Daisuke flipped the cylinder out. Flicking the revolver back, the empty shells slid out of the chamber and he reached into his pouch to withdraw a speedloader. The troll, unfortuntely, got back up again just as Dai snapped the cylinder back into place. He gave the cylinder a spin and cocked the hammer with his left hand. BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three more shots boomed out and the troll roared in fury as it clutched its face in pain. It now had four big huge messy holes in it. The troll suddenly arched its back and began screaming in more pain. A yellow tentacled thing shot out of its back and writhed around. The troll fell to a knee and grunted in pain. Daisuke took this as his chance to kill the plaga in the trolls' back. Holstering the Bull, he pressed his thumb to his index finger and his index finger to his palm. The sword catch made a _schwing_ noise and his katana hilt appeared beside his head. Grabbing it with his right hand, Dai sprinted towards the troll's body and ran up its side as it finally noticed what happened. Landing on its back, Dai gripped the sword in both hands and executed a clean cut on the plaga, removing it completely. He jumped off the troll as it screamed in terrible agony and fell to the ground, leaving a mini earthquake.

-----

"Did you hear that?" Ashley whispered in terror as she and Leon paused from the loud roar and then crash. "I hope Daisuke's okay!"

"He'll be fine, shit, hide!" Leon hissed as they were spotted.

-----

Daisuke sneezed as he picked up a large bag of pesatas from the puddle of troll goop. Rummaging around the shacks, he found an abundance of ammunition, Spinel gems and also herbs and money. He picked up a total of 30 9mm rounds, 10 shotgun shells, 2 Spinels, 3 green herbs and a yellow herb. He shoved them all into his backpack and noticed that he was nearly 3/4 full. Some more searching around the grounds found him an old key and another 10 9mm rounds. Knowing that the coast was clear, Daisuke put all of the pistols bullets into one and a half boxes. He tossed the 3 empty ones away. He now had 72 spare bullets. He also combined all the shotgun shells into one box and tossed the empty one away. He ground a green, red and yellow herb together and put the mixture into a one of the beakers the merchant had given to him earlier. After putting everything away, he found out he had more than half of space left.

Walking quickly to an old door, he stuck the key in and it unlocked to his relief. Daisuke emerged into a gorge. There was a building not too far away and what looked like a huge set of doors at the top of the hill. There was strangely a ski lift beyond that. A small path along the mountainside showed the merchant in a self-made hut to his left. Behind that there was a pathway leading from a red door in the middle of the gorge. It opened and Dai drew his Glock. Fortuntely, Leon and Ashley emerged.

"Hey guys!" Daisuke shouted, waving. They waved back and hurriedly made their way over.

"You wouldn't believe what just happened to me!" Daisuke said as they walked up the steps to the merchant. "A freaking troll! I had to shoot these sticks that held boulders up to daze it, then i chopped some plaga off its back before it died!"

"I ran into two crazy bitches with chainsaws," Leon muttered. "They were in a pit and I got up a ladder and knocked it down so they could follow me. Luckily, after that it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

"What did I tell ya?" the merchant said, his glowing yellow eyes twinkling. "Right loves bouldas, left relies on laddas! I'm 'appy to see that yeh killed another Gigante and the sisters."

"Gigante eh?" Daisuke asked. "That's what the trolls are called?"

"El Gigante, yeah," the merchant said. "Now, I got a selection of good things on sale strangas!"

The trio gave the merchant all their newly found coins, which totalled 60,325. Add the 39,300 they had on their tab, their total came to be 99,625.

There weren't any new guns or ammo at the moment, so the trio just sold their Spinels and other treasures they found. Just then, Daisuke noticed 2 white spray cans in the mix.

"Are those First Aid Sprays?" he gasped, grabbing them both. "Shit, these are powerful healing sprays!"

"Right you are stranga," the merchant said. "A full spray will coat any serious wound in foam and instantly, and I mean _instantly_ heal it, without scarring! They're my latest finds, 5,000 each!"

"We'll take them both!" Daisuke said, handing one to Leon and the other to Ashley. Leon stuck his in an unused pouch and Ashley put hers in her skirt pocket.

"What about you?" she asked worriedly.

"You should have it," Dai said seriously. "You're more than important than I am. Besides, I found a small field of herbs, I've got about ten of them in my pack."

Ashley still looked unsure. "Well, if you're sure," she said uneasily.

"I am," Dai said, taking her hand in his. There was an awkward pause and then Leon coughed. The young pair leapt apart, both flushing. "Anyways..."

"Here," the merchant said, giving Daisuke the Springfield and three boxes of 7.62mm rifle ammo. "Trust me stranga, you'll need it soon."

The rifle was equipped with a 3-9X magnification scope, which had illuminated crosshairs. It was a nice old rifle, and Springfields were very reliable and accurate during WWII, when used as sniper rifles.

"I'll give yeh a discount, 25,000 for all that," the merchant said.

Daisuke nodded and opened one of the small ammo boxes. Inside lay two 5 round clips. The clip was basically a metal bar that held the bullets by their butts. Daisuke pulled the bolt back on the rifle and positioned the clip into the opening. A forceful push of his thumb loaded the clip down into the rifle and a click told him it was all the way down. He pushed the bolt back forward and locked it down. Pushing the safety forward, Daisuke slung the rifle onto his back, thanks to the two point sling.

"Alright, let's get a move on," Leon commanded after thanking the merchant. "Let's check out that small house down there and then those big doors."

"A word o advice strangas," the merchant spoke up. "Yeh won't be gettin' through them doors easily. You should first head to those ski lifts, that will get you to where you need to go."

"Thanks," Leon said.

-----

The house turned out a flashbang grenade. It went into Leon's pouch and they headed up to the ski lift. Daisuke broke a barrel that rewarded Leon with 5 shotgun shells. They all got onto the ski lift and waited patiently as they headed down slowly.

"Look out, there's Ganados on that platform!" Ashley cried, pointing to the left. There were two villagers on a platform about 200 feet away. Daisuke pulled out the Springfield and set the magnifcation to 4X. Crouching to one knee, he took steady aim at the nearest man. He took three deep breaths, pulled off the safety and fired. The rifle jumped into his shoulder as it spit out a high powered .308 caliber Winchester round and the Ganado screamed in terror as the impact of the bullet sent it flying off the platfrom and into the depths of the gorge. Dai cycled the bolt and took aim at the second one. Another blast and its head was completely removed in one shot as its body fell off the platform.

"Look, they're coming up the lifts!" Ashley's voice warned.

Cycling the bolt, Daisuke fired into the midsection of the Ganados on the lift to the right of them, about 50 feet away. The bullet tore through all three of the Ganados and they fell off the lift due to the force of the bullet. More and more were getting on the lifts and Dai fired another shot into the group of two on the next one. They too fell, and Dai cycled the bolt and blew the head off of the Ganado on the third lift. A loud clang rang out as he pulled the bolt back, and the bullet clip flew out of the gun. Cursing, Dai reached into his pouch and pulled out another clip, jamming it in quickly and pushing the bolt back. He had to reduce his magnification to 3X since the Ganados' lift was about 20 feet away now. They threw their axes and scythes, but Leon's quick shooting deflected them. Dai blew them off the lift.

Finally, the Ganados stopped coming and they made it to the lift station in one piece. A quick search of the lift control room yeilded a frag grenade which Daisuke happily took. A trip downstairs to their left met up with the merchant again, who told them he had nothing new, but warned them about the danger ahead up the hill. They found 2 7.62mm bullets and a box of 5 shotgun rounds nearby in the grass however. Ashley tore a root of green herb out of the ground and stuck it in her pocket. They opened the door up the hill and found a large warehouse of some sort.

Leon, Daisuke and Ashley walked up to the door when Leon felt a chill run up his spine. "Ashley, you should stay out here," he warned. "Something doesn't feel right. Go hide!"

"Yeah!" Ashley responded. She placed her hand warmly on Leon's shoulder and gave Dai a huge before hiding behind a shack full of lumber.

Leon grumbled in good humor as he opened the door, "How come I don't get a hug?"

Once inside, the two agents looked around, Leon's shotgun at the ready and Dai with his Bull. They heard a faint rustling and slowly turned around. Some huge motherfucker had appeared behind them and grabbed Leon by the neck. He was slowly choking the life out of him!

Dai took aim and blew a nice three inch hole into the big guy's forearm. With not so much as a cry of pain, the big brute dropped Leon and glared at Dai with mismatched colored eyes. Dai ran over to Leon who was gasping for breath. A loud metallic screech of metal made Dai look back just in time to see big man wrench the door handles together with his bare hands. Well shit. Suddenly, he moved quickly and went to smash Daisuke into the ground. Dai dodged at the last moment and rolled next to Leon, who set his shotgun onto the ground. Kicking a fuel tank towards the big guy, Leon drew his pistol and fired at the leaking gasoline that came out.

"_Hasta l'eugo_," Leon smirked.

Both men leapt back as the fire reached the tank and exploded, engulfing the giant in fire.

"That was close!" Dai chuckled as Leon grabbed the shotgun.

"Yeah, let's -"

"GRUUUUARRRAWW!"

From the fires came the big brute, his burning jacket falling from his huge frame as he glared spitefully at the two agents. More roaring was heard as suddenly, his spinal column erupted and his torso removed itself from his legs! He grew a pair of long clawed limbs from his back and many gross feeler legs grew from his sides, almost like a sick human centipede. He now stood over 20 feet tall and started to advance on the two agents.

Leon aimed his 870 and Daisuke raised the .44 magnum.

"Fuuuuuuuck."


	4. Chapter 4

Finally, I can upload again! Hope you didn't mind the wait, you can charge the bill to thanks.

Chapter 4

BOOM!

The big guy - now known as Mendez when Dai asked Leon - staggered back a few steps, chunks of yellowish blood and gore flying from various parts of his body. Leon had unloaded his 6th shell into the monster yet it kept coming at them.

BOOM!

A disgusting squirting noise was heard and Dai looked to see the lower half of Mendex get ripped away by the shotgun pellets. Mendez' legs gave way and collapsed to the ground while his gross upper body toppled to the floor. Daisuke kept his red circle trained on Mendez while Leon reloaded the 870. Hopfully, Mendez was dead.

Nope, he wasn't dead. The top half suddenly came to life, and the giant feelers from his back shot upwards and latched onto a support beam. Mendez heaved himself up and started to swing towards the two agents, beam to beam. Dai fired a round into Mendez' chest, which caused the monster to swing around in a comical fashion, but he then continued on towards them.

Dangling from one feeler, Mendez shot out his other one, aiming for Dai. Daisuke quickly leapt out of the way and the feeler impaled a barrel behind him. A resounding BOOM was heard as Leon fired point blank into Mendez' chest and the monster flew back onto the ground. By now the fire in the warehouse was growing, and soon the agents would begin to suffocate on the smoke. Quickly, Dai and Leon ran up to Mendez on the ground and began pouring hot lead into his body.

"AAAAAARRRGHHHH!"

Mendez screamed in his final death throes before lying face down on the ground, finally dead. His left eye fell out of its socket and Leon picked it up.

"Trophy?" Daisuke asked. Leon shrugged.

"It might be useful," he answered.

A quick search of the warehouse yeilded lots of ammo, and one of each colored herb. As the building caught more flames, a hole appeared in the side and both agents jumped out just as the rest of the warehouse was engulfed in flames.

"Are you guys alright?" Ashley asked worriedly, running up and giving both men a hug.

"A little singed around the edges, but we'll survive," Leon replied, patting her on her shining blond hair. "I'm exhausted however..."

Daisuke started to hack and wheeze. The others gave him worried looks.

"Smoke inhalation," he coughed. "Ashes in my throat... I'll be okay... Need water..."

The other two quickly supported Dai and the ran from the warehouse, out the metal gate. They passed by the merchant, who waved at them.

"Rough fight stranga?" he asked Daisuke, handing him a bottle of Dasini water.

Daisuke took great gulps of the water, quickly feeling much better. "Thanks," he said gratefully, his voice back to normal. "Got any more water bottles?"

The merchant gave the trio five more water bottles, for a total of 1,000PTAS. "You should rest for a bit," he cautioned. "Wot lies ahead will test your strength and stamina, strangas."

He jerked his thumb to the distant ski lift. "Take the lift back to where I was before," he said. "There you'll find that small bunka, where you can rest easy for a few hours. Believe me, you'll need it."

The trio nodded and thanked the merchant again. He simply waved with his raucous laughter echoing in their ears as he walked off into the darkness.

Leon, Daisuke and Ashley made their way to the stairs under the ski lift when Dai noticed lights in the canyon wall up ahead. "What's over there?" he asked, heading towards it. Leon and Ashley followed.

There was a tunnel entrance, and Daisuke entered it, G23 at the ready. Two Ganados yelled something in Spanish, while pointing at him. It either translated into something like, "Look! An enemey!" or, "Hey, come join the party, we got hotties!"

One pulled out a yellow stick and proceeded to light it. Daisuke paled. Dynamite!

He quickly dove out of the tunnel entrance just as Leon and Ashley were about to enter. The explosion that followed rattled their teeth, and chunks of rock flew about them. Daisuke leapt up.

"Two can play at that game fuckers!" he yelled, pulling the pin on his frag grenade and popping the top. He heaved it into the tunnel entrance. The next explosion featured more falling rock and screams of death.

Taking his pistol back out, Dai peeked into the tunnel and saw that the Ganados were long gone, as were most of the things in the tunnel. Motioning that it was safe, he and the others walked into the tunnel, which opened up to a cavern. There was some sort of stone slab on the right side, with a huge symbol on the wall behind. There was fresh blood on the slab. No one wanted to go near it.

The ladder at the end of the cavern brought them to another level, where a single Ganado was easily killed by Leon. They picked up a frag grenade from his body and a Yellow Catseye from the chest he was guarding. Leon fitted the catseye into the Beerstein he had found. There was already a Green Catseye in it, so that left one empty hole.

They quickly made their way onto the ski lift, and were back at the gorge. The familiar blue flames of the merchant burned away in the distance, and they saw the bunker-like building at the foot of the merchant's stairs. They walked tiredly towards the bunker and inside.

-----

It looked to be like a sort of locker room, or storage area. A search revealed another frag grenade, and this time Dai gave it to Leon. A locker that had fallen over proved to have a bountiful amount of green herbs growing inside it, and Ashley tore out 6 roots.

"This looks like a secure resting place," Leon commented, looking around. "The windows are high up and tiny, not to mention covered with bars. And the front door is heavy steel."

"We can use the lockers to wedge the door shut by placing them against the door and opposite wall," Dai offered. "But first I'm gonna visit the merchant for some supplies."

"We'll stay here," Leon said as Ashley nodded with a yawn.

-----

"What can I do for yeh stranga?" the merchant asked.

"Do you have any matches?" Daisuke asked.

"'Ere, Zippo lighter for 100PTAS," the merchant said, tossing a shiny silver lighter to Daisuke. "Anything else stranga?"

"Yeah, do you have any .44 magnum rounds?"

The merchant pulled out a black and red box after rummaging through his things. "You're in luck stranga, I just got this!" he crowed, giving the box to Dai. "Unfortunetely, a full box only has ten rounds, so you'd best make good use of em! That'll be 4,000PTAS!"

"Thanks," Daisuke said as the merchant edited his notepad. He went back to the bunker.

-----

"Well, that takes care of the front door," Leon grunted as they heaved the last locker and jammed it between the door and wall. All four lockers were now providing a big ass door jam, two on the floor beside eachother and two on top. Nothing would get through, nothing Ganado-sized of course.

Ashley had found some rough blankets in the other lockers and placed them onto the floor, making plenty of room for the trio. Daisuke brought out his backpack and fished out the MREs.

"Anyone hungry?" he asked, holding out the packages. Leon and Ashley's faces lit up.

"Tonight's menu features several delicious meals!" Daisuke said in his best snobby-waiter voice. He began to read off the packages. "We have grilled beefsteak with mushroom gravy, ribless pork ribs in BBQ sauce, chicken breast filet and beef stew!"

"I'll take the chicken," Ashley said, reaching for the package. Leon took the beef stew and Dai opened his package of beefsteak.

In each package was the main entree, side dish, desert, some crackers or bread depending on what you got (Leon got crackers for his stew), peanut butter for Ashley and Dai's bread, some fruit powder they could mix in their water, coffee packets, spoons, forks, etc, some matches and tissues.

Heating up the meals was easy since the package contained a smaller package that could be filled with water and broken in half, which would cause the chemicals inside to mix and heat up. They chatted as their food was heated, and when one heating package ran out, Dai would light up some broken bits of wood with his Zippo to substitute.

The MREs were decent foodstuff, but no one complained since they were starving. Leon especially appreciated the coffee, and drank it down black. When they were finished eating, they combined all their garbage and stuck it in a corner.

"I'm still sort of hungry," Ashley muttered with a blush on her face.

Daisuke tossed her a ration can. Inside was a mixture of meatloaf and gravy. She opened it up and placed it over the fire, watching eagerly as it warmed it. When it was sufficiently hot enough, she dug in, and surprisingly, it wasn't that bad tasting. It was kind of like those Michillini (or however it was spelt) stuff.

Adding the now-empty can to their pile of garbage, Ashley looked back to the blankets to see Leon propped up against the wall, backpack, shotgun and TMP beside him as he rested, hand still on his USP. Daisuke had stripped off all his weapons and most of his gear and was sprawled out on the blankets.

"Two man shift sound okay?" he asked Leon. "How long should we rest for?"

Leon pulled out his comm. "Hunnigan," he called.

"Leon, great to see you!" Hunnigan said cheerfully. "Are the others okay?"

"We've had some rough bits, but for the most, we're fine," Leon said, turning the comm around so that Hunnigan could see the others. "We're taking a break. Is our mission time-sensitive?"

Hunnigan pondered for a moment. "I think you can afford two or three hours of rest," she answered carefully. "The president will understand that you can't fight if you're exhausted. We're still working - more like arguing - with the Spanish government to let us send some choppers over there, so it might not be till morning or even midday until we can get you out of there."

"Great," Leon said. "Alright then, we'll take a 3 hour nap if that's okay with you."

"I'll set your comm to ring its alarm in three hours Leon," she warned. "Yours too Daisuke. Hunnigan out."

"Great!" Daisuke said as he cracked his back. "You take the first ninety minutes, I'll take the last. Ashley, try to get some sleep!"

"Right!" she said, lying down on the blankets near Dai. Both dropped off nearly instantly.

A few moments later, Leon looked over to the sleeping pair. A small grin appeared on his face. They both had shifted in their sleep, and were now holding onto eachother unconsciously. Both were on their sides, and facing eachother, with their noses touching and lips dangerously close to the other's. Leon watched as Daisuke gave out a quiet snore, and Ashley buried her face into his neck. He smiled wryly. How cute.

-----

Daisuke played around with the laser on his Glock while he sipped from his coffee bottle. After extricating himself from Ashley's smooth - but strong - arms, he had endured smarmy looks from Leon as they switched guard. Ashley was currently hugging Leon's arm to herself as she slept on her side, and Leon was flat out on his back, snoring softly. The 90 minute nap worked wonders for Dai, and he was very refreshed. Hopefully, the others would be good to go afterwards as well. Ashley would be getting 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep, which would be good for her, since she hadn't slept in over 12 hours.

Sipping at his coffee - 5 sugers and 6 creams of course - Daisuke contemplated what was going on. He had read whatever notes and plans that Leon had found throughout the area and everything disturbed him greatly. It was like a really bad horror movie or a really good video game. Monsters, people who shouldn't be able to do what they do, exploding heads... Eurgh. It was freaky to say at the least. Would they even survive until morning? Daisuke had a feeling that trolls weren't the most dangerous creatures out there. He hoped that he and Leon would be able to protect Ashley, just a bit longer...

-----

_Beep beep beep._

It was just past midnight local time when Leon and Ashley woke up from the comm's beeping. Ashley stretched, arching her back like a cat as Daisuke watched. Her form was breathtaking. She was quite thin, but you could see no ribs sticking out or signs of being malnourished. Her stomach was flat from what he cold tell under her orange shirt and if there were any perkier breasts out there, he didn't want to know. Right, now he had a slight blood pressure problem and he had to get rid of it quick.

Thinking quickly, Daisuke brought up images of the rotting Ganados and trolls. Yup, that worked wonders! He'd have to use it for future instances.

"Good nap?" he asked the others. Leon gave him a smile as he put all of his gear back on.

"Best nap I've had in a while," he said.

"I feel great!" Ashley said, her cheeks slightly tinged pink. Midway in her slumber, she had slightly awoken when Dai had put his arm around her waist. Her nose was pressed up against his neck and she had never felt so comfortable in her life. She liked Daisuke, a _lot_.

"Good to hear that," Dai said warmly. "Well I guess we should check up on our gear before heading out."

Ashley drew her 5-7 and made sure it was loaded and the safety off. In the past, she would have been trembling furiously if she was holding a gun, but after the horrors she had been through, the then-whiny daughter of the US President had matured greatly, showing confidence and cool in the face of danger. Leon and Dai were especially proud of her for that.

Leon began to reload his shotgun, pressing three shells into it. The 870 was midsize, and held only 7 shells total. While it made reloading more often, it also helped on conserving ammo. His TMP had one empty mag, and he thumbed 30 custom 9mm Luger rounds into it. His TMP ammo box was now empty, so he tossed it, along with the empty shotgun box. His USP was still full, as were his spare clips, so he counted out an extra 55 9mm rounds.

Daisuke tossed Leon his full box of 12 gauge shells, which the older man took with a smile and nod as he stuffed it into his bag. Taking out the box of .44mag rounds, Dai pressed 6 of the long bullets into this Raging Bull's cylinder. Better not use up the speedloaders when not needed. His Springfield had at least 2 rounds in it, so he picked up some bullets that weren't in clips and pulled the bolt back. A single round flew out and he picked it up. Dropping it into the rifle chamber, Dai pushed down on it with his index and middle fingers, until a click was heard. Taking the spare rounds, he pressed another two in before finding out it was now full. He stuffed the two extra rounds back in the rifle ammo box.

When everyone was finished, the men quickly removed the lockers barring the door and walked outside. It was pitch black out, so Leon switched his taclight on and Dai set his LAM to Light Always On and Laser on Pressure. Ashley was given a pocket torch from Dai, one of those small Maglites that could fit anywhere. It featured a 60 lumen LED bulb, which was fairly bright compared to normal flashlights.

The trio headed up to the door and were met with an intricate carving of a woman's face. The left eye (on their right side) was glowing red.

"Looks like a retinal scanner," Leon said, pulling out Mendez' fake eye. "Maybe this will work, that's what his notes said."

The scanner ran a red beam over Mendez' eye and the door unlocked. Leon tossed the used eyeball away as they entered.

-----

"Ganados!" Ashley hissed, pointing her 5-7 up the hill. Three Ganados were standing up there, looking around stupidly. Daisuke pulled out the Springfield and painted the hill with their brains. Suddenly, a loud honking was heard and an ancient truck appeared at the top of the hill, barrelling down towards them!

"Ashley, get back!" Leon yelled, pulling the TMP from his chest and pressing the buttstock against his shoulder. He fired quick bursts into the driver's side window and the engine, causing it to explode. Leon emptied the rest of the mag into the truck's left front tire, and it exploded, causing the truck to veer to the right and slam into the bank, causing it to flip onto its side and slide to a stop just a foot away from the trio.

Dai whistled. "Sweet shooting."

Leon took a spare mag from its pouch. "Thanks," he said, ejecting the empty mag and catching it with the hand that held the fresh one. He put the new mag in the TMP and the empty one in the pouch. Thumbing the bolt catch, the gun was now reloaded. "Let's get a move on."

Daisuke spotted a big bag of coins at the rear of the truck and put it in his backpack. When they had walked a short distance away from the truck, yells suddenly erupted and they turned around to see Ganados crawl out the rear!

"Look out!" Ashley cried, shooting one in the shoulder. The Ganados were very close, and one with a torch went to blow something out of its mouth at Dai. Dai quickly shot the bastard in the mouth and watched as a liquid (probably vodka) caught fire and the idiot ran back, screaming as his brains were fried.

Leon opened automatic fire into the large mob, and several were dropped. Dai switched to auto and helped out, squeezing out bursts into heads. Ashley had taken two down with some careful shots and soon the rest were eliminated. Dropped items littered the ground.

"Good shooting Ashley," Dai said as he touched her arm. She flushed prettily as she reloaded her 5-7.

"I had a good teacher," she said shyly, giving him a queer smile.

They found some more pesatas and some rifle ammo. They made their way up the hill to see an impressive looking castle across a drawbridge.

Foreign cries caught their attention and they saw a huge wave of villagers bearing up at them from the bottom of the hill.

"Quick, let's get to that castle!" Leon shouted, grabbing Ashley's arm. The trio crossed the bridge quickly. At the other side were two cranks that probably operated the drawbridge.

"Ashley and I will turn the cranks, cover us Dai!" Leon shouted as they went to the cranks.

"Got it!" Dai said, standing at the ready.

Leon and Ashley quickly began to raise the bridge up, and the Ganados at the other side roared in fury as they were cut off.

"Phew, that was close!" Ashley muttered. She latched onto Daisuke's hand as they entered the huge castle.

There was a courtyard which had several barrels littered around. A stone house was adorned with the merchant's blue flames, but they decided to go treasure hunting first. The barrels in the courtyard were destroyed with well placed kicks, and Dai recieved 5 rifle bullets, and coins. Behind the house yeilded two boxes of shotgun rounds, 5 shells in each. Leon put all the shells in one box and stuck it in his bag.

Ashley then cried, "Look what I found!"

They ran over to her where she stood in front of an open chest. She held up a beautiful golden bracelet. It looked like it had sapphires embedded into its front.

"Nice find!" Leon said.

Ashley put the bracelet on. "It's really nice," she mused, holding her arm out and admiring the bracelet. "And it looks _really_ expensive! If we have to, we could sell it later on!"

Daisuke nodded. "Hopefully we won't have to," he told her. "It looks great on you."

Ashley blushed red again and merely took his hand. They went into the merchant's house.

"'Ello strangas!" he greeted. "Got some new things that might interest ya."

His new inventory consisted of a custom Colt 1911 .45ACP pistol, a freaking M79 grenade launcher, and an SL-9 semi-automatic sniper rifle.

"Man, that rifle is _so_ mine," Daisuke moaned, picking it up. It had a custom illuminated scope on it, and the markings showed that it was 2-11X digital magnification. The illuminated crosshairs could be red, blue or green. It had a short G36-style mag, which held 10 rounds. "How much?"

"45,000 with the scope stranga," the merchant said. "I've also got some standard G36 thirty round mags that work with it too."

"How much for my Springfield if I trade it in?" Daisuke asked as Leon picked up the M79.

The merchant rubbed his chin. "15,000 sounds fair," he said. "So 30,000 for the SL-9 then? Each mag costs an additional 3,000PTAS."

"I'll take two then," Dai said, hefting his Springfield out. Cycling the bolt quickly, he ejected the five bullets out and put them in his pocket. He gave the empty rifle to the merchant, who placed it in his pile. Then, Daisuke, Leon and Ashley gave the merchant all their coins, which added up to be 40,625PTAS. So now their tab totalled 100,150 pesatas. Take away for SL-9 it was now 64,150.

Daisuke thumbed the .308W rounds into the mags. Thankfully, the SL-9 could use these rounds along with the 7.62 NATO and Russian rounds. He filled up the 10 round clip and one full 30 round mag. The other mag was left empty. He stuck it into his pack.

Leon decided to buy the grenade launcher. "We might need the firepower later," he told the others. It was surprisingly cheap at 9,800PTAS, but that was because it only came with 2 40mm HE grenades.

"40mm grenades will be hard to find stranga," the merchant said. "They come in three flavas: High Explosive, Incendiary and Acid. You'll not find many until you reach the island, where they'll be plenty."

Leon nodded anyways, and the M79 joined the shotgun as it was slung to his back. After buying a few more water bottles, they bid the merchant goodbye as they exited his house.

"I wonder why the Ganados don't attack him?" Daisuke wondered. Leon looked at him as they walked up the stairs.

"He's got a plaga inside of him as well," he said. "Although he's able to retain his free will somehow. Doesn't stink as much either."

Dai snorted as they opened to the door to whatever lay ahead...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Eerie chanting filled their ears as they heard words whispered in Spanish over and over again. Coming around the side, Dai motioned for the others to hide behind the wall as he crouched behind a large crate. Luckily, there was a box of .308 ammo on top, and he found rounds inside. He stashed it in his bag for later. Setting the scope to 2X, he popped up and looked through. There were two figures walking back and forth on a battlement up and away. They were dressed in black robes, like the freaks from the church, and had bald heads with tattoos drawn over them. Freaky. Dai blew one's head off as the other stopped chanting and began to run. Thanking the SL-9 for it's semi auto fire, he removed the rear dome of the second guy's head as he ran away, his body continuing to run after it died.

Looking around more, he saw that there were no more bad guys. He waved his hand and the others caught up to him.

"We got monks or something here," Daisuke told Leon. He patted the SL-9. "This thing is very powerful! One shot kills!"

Leon nodded. "Let's keep moving. I've contacted Hunnigan, she told us to get out the other side of the castle. It might take a while however, this place is huge."

"Right, let's go!"

They ran up some circular stairs and Daisuke was the first one up. He took two steps and then was blasted into the air as the ground exploded!

"Dai!" Ashley cried, trying to run to him. Leon grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"No Ashley!" he yelled. "Catapaults!"

-----

Daisuke moaned as he picked himself off the ground. He had landed near some sort of gazebo. A loud noise of something flying through the air caught his attention. He looked up and threw himself as far as he could as a giant fireball of molten rock smalled into the gazebo, showering him with chunks of marble. Landing on the ground, Dai had a clear view of one of the catapaults, and it was loading a new rock! Lying on his side, he used his SL-9 to zero in on a fuel tank beside the catapault. He squeezed the trigger just when the monk went to fire.

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

The catapault was sent flying straight upwards, pieces flying everywhere. The other one had stopped firing, thank god, and Dai lay on the ground, wheezing painfully. A rib or two had to be broken.

"Daisuke!" Ashley cried as she and Leon ran up to him. She collapsed onto her knees and held his hand. "Omigod, are you okay?"

"I think I broke a damn rib!" he growled, clutching his side.

"Right," Leon said, reaching into Dai's pack. He pulled out the beaker of GRY herbs and popped the top. "Quickly, swallow this!"

Dai emptied the powder into his mouth and swallowed what he could. Ashley tipped a water bottle to his lips and it helped the dry powder go down much easier. He lay on the ground for several more minutes before he felt his ribs begin to knit back together, and power flowed into his veins.

"Wow, this stuff's amazing!" he gasped in wonder. Sitting up he felt no pain whatsoever from his side. "I feel fantastic!"

"Thank god!" Ashley sobbed, clutching him like a lifeline.

They sat there for several moments, relishing in eachother's warmth before Leon coughed politely.

"We should, uh, get moving," he said apologetically. "You'll get your cuddle time later."

Both Dai and Ashley blushed, but got up anyways. Leon led them to where Dai shot the first two monks, and found a room which contained some coins and to his joy, an incendiary grenade for his M79.

"I'm going to need a tactical vest soon," he said, placing the grenade in one of his zippered cargo pockets.

-----

Clearing the area was a pain in the ass, thanks to the stronger monks (now known to them as "Zealots" from a note) and catapaults. Dai's rifle ammo was running dangerously low, and Leon had all but used up all of his shotgun shells. They were currently wielding their Glock and USP respectively, and Ashley had yet to fire her 5-7 as usual. Dai had to crank up a damn canon while Leon kept watch and they blew the castle gates to hell before running through the open doorway.

They met the merchant on the way inside (how _does_ he get around so quickly?!) and checked out his inventory.

They sold their Spinels and Velvet Blues for a nice total of 37,000PTAS. Leon got his tactical vest at last, and traded his shoulder holster in. The BlackHawk International vest hosted a plethora of pouches for pistol mags, shotgun shell holders (loops of elastic that held 7 shells each), long mag pouches and a cross-draw holster for a second pistol. It cost 20,000 PTAs, but it was worth it.

Leon slid 24 shotgun shells into the shell loops on the right breast of his vest. He tossed the empty boxes and began to stick his TMP mags into the lower stomach area of the vest. A pouch normally used for a medkit was used for his M79 grenades and he kept his USP clips on his duty belt pouches.

After some convincing, Dai got Leon to pay 77,700 for the Colt 1911, which came with two clips of the deadly .45ACP ammo. Each clip held 7 rounds in a single stack formation. The pistol went into the cross-draw holster, and the spare mag into one of the vest pouches on Leon's left breast. Leon then clipped the TMP's sling point to his right shoulder buckle on the vest, letting it drop to his chest like before.

Dai was fortunate enough to buy another box of 10 .44mag bullets. He now had 5 speedloaders and 14 spare bullets for his Bull. Everyone emptied the 9mm boxes to fill their clips and mags, and now they were devoid of spare 9mm bullets. In fact, only Leon had spare shotgun shells, and Ashley still had a box of 40-50 AP rounds. Daisuke had found several grenades, and now carried 3 frags, 4 incendiaries and 2 flash grenades.

They chatted the merchant up a bit, who gave them some more sage advice.

"The Zealots that wear masks are bullet proof to the face," he warned. "It'll take a lot of shots to kill one normally."

The thanked him again and walked through the red door, into the castle...

-----

"Check this out!" Daisuke was looking at a broadsword mounted on a gold plaque. The sword itself looked to be made out of platinum. "Not bad. Doesn't look like it could be used however."

Leon nodded and picked up a box of 5 shotgun shells. He put it into his pack, which now held it and several herbs. Leon had relocated his F.Aid Spray to a pouch for sprays on his vest. Ashley opened a cupboard and found a small box of 9mm rounds, which she happily presented to Leon.

Daisuke removed the sword from the plaque. "Maybe we can use this?" he wondered. The trio wandered up the stairs and saw three Zealots loitering around. A slam downstairs made them turn around to see a bunch of Zealots and one in red enter the room whispering freakishly. The two agents pulled Ashley upstairs, and Leon sent the closest Zealot into the wall with a point blank shot to his neck. The remains of the Zealot sank to the ground and decomposed as it's head contents painted the wall. They dashed to the other side of the room where the other two Zealots pulled out flails (maces on a chain!) and stalked towards them.

"_Muere, muere, muere..._" they droned.

One reached out quickly and snatched Ashley, pulling on her arm viciously. She screamed and unloaded her clip into his face, the rounds tearing through his skull and hitting the wall behind. He finally let her go as he died, turning into a yellow puddle. Ashley ran back to Leon and Dai, who were dishing out lead justice with their guns. She quickly ejected the clip, stuffed it into her pocket and slid a fresh one in before thumbing the slide release.

Six more Zealots were killed before the final one in red advanced on them. Leon was rapidly loading two shells at once into his shotgun while Dai's G23 peppered the freak's chest. It didn't seem to slow down however. Finally, in frustration, Dai heaved the platinum sword in his left hand and swung with all his might, decapitating the High Zealot in one swing. The head flew off and smacked sickingly into the wall, and decomposed.

Dai looked at the sword in his hand. "Well shit!" he mumbled with a laugh. He looked down to see a rather large coin purse in the puddle that used to be the High Zealot.

They searched the second floor, now that they were sure it was safe and found small amounts of 9mm ammo and some herbs. Dai noticed a gold sword mounted on a platinum plaque. He removed it and placed the platinum sword on the plaque. It made a loud click, but didn't do anything after that. With a thought, he headed downstairs with the gold sword and placed it in its matching plaque. Another click was heard and then a rumbling from upstairs.

"Dai, there's a door opening!" Ashley called.

He quickly ran upstairs and saw that the platinum plaque had slid into the wall, revealing a doorway. They walked through it.

-----

"Hey guys!"

Everyone turned around to see Luis run up to them with a grin.

"Luis!" Leon said, startled.

The Spaniard caught his breath and smiled at them. "I've got something for you guys!" He dug into his pockets, before frowning and muttering, "Uh... what? Oh shit! I must have dropped it when I was running away from them!"

"Dropped what?" Ashley asked curiously.

Luis sighed. "A drug that will stop your convulsions."

Leon and Ashley looked worriedly at eachother, however Daisuke was confused.

"Uh, last time I checked, I'm not convulsing?" he asked. Luis snorted at him.

"Then you're lucky _amigo_." He turned to Leon and Ashley. "Look, I know you two are carriers. You've been coughing up blood, haven't you?"

"Yeah..."

"... Yes."

"Dammit!" Luis swore. "The eggs have hatched. We don't have much time..."

"What are you talking about?" Leon demanded sharply.

"I'l have to go back and get it," Luis murmured to himself. He turned to leave.

"Let me come with you!" Ashley volunteered, drawing her 5-7. Daisuke felt hot indignace towards the girl. Luis was nowhere near prepared enough to protect her, and he was going someone even more dangerous no doubt! Luis waved his hand as he walked away.

"No, you stay here with Leon and Daisuke," he called over his shoulder. "They're better with the ladies, I'm sure..."

Daisuke gave Ashley an odd look. "Getting bored of us already?" he asked sarcastically. He pulled his half empty clip out and put it in a pouch. Taking a full clip, he pushed it into the G23 sideways, feeling the resistance of the mag catch stop it. With a firm push, the last 2 inches clicked in.

Ashley looked ashamed. "No, it's not that..." she trailed off quietly.

"Why are you helping us?" Leon called as Luis stopped in front of the door.

"... It makes me feel better... Let's just leave it at that..."

And he was gone.

Daisuke set his Glock to automatic. Ignoring Ashley for the moment, he moved forward, inspecting the huge iron doors into the castle. "We need a key," he said. He spied a golden door to his left. "Maybe it's in there. You two stay here, I'm gonna check it out."

He crossed over to the golden door and entered the next room without a look back.

-----

"_Morir es vivir!!_"

"Shut the _fuck_ up!" Dai said in annoyance as he blasted the Zealot to hell with a burst from his Glock. He walked forward and noticed another Zealot exit a doorway in the corridor to his right. He aimed his G23 at a red barrel and shot it, blowing the fucker to meet his friend.

"_Muere!_" A Zealot on a walkway above to his left shouted, shooting Dai with a crossbow.

"AH! Fuck!" Dai shouted as the bolt drove itself into his left shoulder. "Motherfucker!"

A half-second later his entire clip was emptied into the Zealot, who screamed in agony as he fell off the walkway. Growling, Dai couldn't remove the bolt at the moment, so he grit his teeth and continued on. Sliding the empty clip into his dump pouch, he put a long mag into his Glock and released the slide. Inside the little room was another Zealot who was taken care of easily. Wincing from the white hot pain in his shoulder, Dai found an herb and box of 9mm rounds in a drawer, plus 2 shotgun shells on the table. Exiting, he walked towards where the crossbow Zealot was and saw two more uglies with spiked wooden shields and flails. Not even bothering to waste ammo, he popped a red grenade and watched the two Zealots burn in agony.

There was a door they were guarding and he kicked it open, wincing agian because he jarred his shoulder. The bolt dug into his flesh as he broke several boxes and barrels to find more ammo and some pesatas. A chest yielded the key to the castle doors. The door to the room slammed open as Zealots rushed into the room. Without even looking, Dai fired a burst into the general area of the red barrel he saw and the explosion killed every single cult member. He picked up some more pesatas and a 9mm Luger ammo box before kicking the door open harshly, sending two Zealots flying back with moans. He sprayed them with hot lead and they decomposed, leaving no items.

Now panting heavily from his equally heavily bleeding shoulder, Daisuke exited through the golden door to see Ashley and Leon run up to him.

"Omigod, Dai!" Ashley cried, tenderly touching his shoulder.

He gave Leon a pained look. "They have _crossbows_," he muttered sardonically. Leon checked the bolt.

"Shit, it's made out of steel," he cursed. "I can't break the tip or end."

Daisuke sighed and put the tip of his G23 to the bolt. He fired off a shot and the bullet broke the bolt in half. "Pull it out!"

Leon grabbed the arrowhead and yanked it out with a sickening _splurch_. Ashley whimpered and held onto Daisuke's hand as Leon force-fed him two powdered green herbs. A few minutes later, A circular scar the size of a pea was all that was left of Daisuke's wound.

He breathed heavily and gulped down some juice. "Thanks," he muttered. Ashley still gripped his hand in a death grip. "I'm fine Ashley."

Leon took the key Dai dropped and went to unlock the castle doors. Ashley gave Dai a very sad look.

"I'm sorry if..." she whispered dejectedly. Dai shook his head, his past anger long forgotten.

"It's okay. Really," he said with a small smile. "I was just being a jerk I guess."

"Okay," she said sweetly and gave him a bright smile. To Daisuke's surprise, she bent down quickly and pecked his lips before blushing furiously and running to join Leon.

Dai touched his lips. "Heh!"

-----

The main hall was enormous, littered with fancy marble columns and paintings everywhere. As they walked into the main hall towards the small set of stairs, they froze when soft laughter trickled down towards them. Seeing nothing, the cautiously moved forward some more.

Loud cackling was heard and they looked up to the balcony ahead and saw two huge figures clothed in black and red robes, and what appeared to be a midget in ridiculous clothing.

"I was starting to wonder when you might notice us," the short man said in the most annoying voice Dai had _ever_ heard.

Leon smartly shot back, "And you are?"

Daisuke shook his head and answered before the guy could answer. "Leon, didn't you know? He's the fucking Spanish midget version of Napoleon!"

The midget trembled with fury. "How dare you!" he screamed girlishly. "_Me Ilamo_ Ramon Salazar you maggot! The eighth castellan of this magnificent architecture!"

Daisuke snorted and raised his Glock. "_Watashi wa_ Tendo Daisuke," he mocked. "The first owner of this magnificent pistol!"

And with that he fired at the damn midget before he could speak back. His two bodyguards, however, stepped in front to absorb the bullets.

"You won't kill me that easily, I'm afraid!" Salazar sang from behind his guards. "I have been honored with the prestigious power from the great Lord Saddler!"

"Hiding behind your banga boys isn't what I'd call great power!" Daisuke shot back, enjoying the taunting he gave the short man. "Emperor Palpatine must have given you the... _short_ end of the deal."

Leon swore he heard Salazar gnash his teeth.

"We will take the girl!" he shouted. "She will join us shortly! The both of you can just... die!"

And with that, he dissapeared from the balcony, along with his guards. Leon gave Daisuke a look.

"Must you antagonize our enemies?" he sighed.

"They are the antagonists!" Dai chirped.

Ashley looked distraught however. "I'll never go with them!" she cried, clutching Dai's arm. "I'm never turning into one of them!"

"Got that right!" Leon answered. "We'll find a cure."

"And stuff midget man into a canon," Daisuke quipped.

-----

Their path forward was blocked by a rising column of stone. Leon deduced that they need the three animal stones to insert into the plaque to move forward. In the meantime, the headed to the open door on the right. There was a hallway littered with side tables and such. To their left was a thick iron door that led to a prison downstairs. Dai got creepy vibes from it. Moving through the hallway, they found some shotgun shells and a full clip for Leon's 1911.

They smashed the barrels at the end of the hallway to find a yellow herb, which Ashley mixed with a red and green one. A note on the wall gave them some information about Salazar's plans, but their way out was blocked by two fire breathing horse statues. Leon found a key hidden under a painting of Salazar, and they headed back to find that it unlocked the prison key.

Entering, Leon told Ashley to stay at the top of the stairs because he saw a huge creature chained in the cell downstairs. Using his digital binoculars, He saw that the man's eyes were stitched shut and his arms were adorned with giant blades. He was also wearing full medieval armor, which looked bullet proof. He was breathing loudly, which meant he was alive, and sadly the switch Leon saw was right beside him.

"Alright," Leon whispered to Dai. "I'm going to go into the cell and try to activate the switch. If the monster comes after me, try to distract it while I get to the switch alright?"

Dai nodded, pulling his Raging Bull out. "Got it. Be careful!"

They made their way over to the cell and Leon knocked it down. The monster made no move however, and was chained to the wall. Leon moved forward to move the lever when the monster yelled and used his clawed arms to sliced the chains away. Leon leapt back and narrowly avoided being impaled by one tiple bladed arm as the monster thrust forward. Leon quickly ran back towards the pillar and hid behind it.

Dai watched carefully as the monster stepped out of the cell and stopped. It seemed to be craning its ears for noise. Catching Leon's eyes, Dai used hand signals. He pinched his eyes shut, telling Leon that the monster was blind. His partner nodded. Next, Dai pointed to his ear and made "talking" motions with his hand. This told Leon that the monster was sound-sensitive. The older agent nodded as he readied his shotgun. Ashley was deathly silent up at the stairs thank god.

The monster moved around, searching out his victim. Leon watched as it walked around the pillar, and when it was no more than 10 feet away, he blasted it with the shogun.

Only to duck and roll away as the pellets bounced harmlessly away from the monster's armour as it slashed wildly at Leon. The government agent rolled a safe distance away and watched the monster as it kept slashing at air. He pumped his shotgun. Suddenly, the monster stopped and turned to Leon's direction.

Daisuke mentally swore as the monster found Leon out through its hearing again. As it turned to face Leon and began stalking towards him, Dai spotted a bell of all things hanging on the wall in the distance. Quickly putting his Bull away, he drew his weaker G23 and fired a round into the bell. It gonged loudly and the monster clutched its ears in agony as it roared.

"ARRRRRRRRRR!" it growled, dashing towards the bell and it began to attack it. Leon ran up a bit and unloaded a 12 gauge buckshot into its back.

"GRAAAAAAAAA!" it screamed, and a plaga poked out of its back. Both agents knew that shooting it in the back would kill it. It turned around to slash at Leon, who got caught on the leg, but leapt away afterwards. Leon was now lying on the ground as the monster advanced on him.

_Pop pop pop pop!_

Ashley's AP bullets pierced through the monster's armor, causing it to bellow out in pain as it stumbled backwards. Leon used this chance to roll around behind it under its legs. With a smooth pump of the handgrip, he stuck the shotgun barrel into the monster's back.

"Cya later big guy," he said gruffly as he squeezed the trigger. Bits of gore and bone erupted from its back as the monster let out one last cry before slumping to the ground and decomposing.

"That was close!" Dai said as he and Ashley headed down the stairs. Leon crawled towards a green herb near the wall and he quickly crushed and ate it. The wound on his leg healed soon after, and they went to inspect the puddle of gore. Surprisingly, there were five gold bars lying there. Shrugging, Leon put them in his pack, since it was mostly empty.

-----

Exiting the prison, the chants of Zealots drew their attention to the end of the hallway. A few of the monks were heading towards them with flails at the ready. Daisuke raised his Glock and shot the oil lamp hanging from the ceiling. It hit the ground and erupted into flames, killing them all. He gave Ashley a cocky smirk and she rolled her eyes and laced her fingers with his shyly. He squeezed her fingers and she gave him that brilliant smile again. Leon just smiled at the young couple (if that's what they were now) and they continued on.

The flaming horses were shut off now, and Dai saw two Zealots with crossbows run into the corridor.

"Oh hell no, not again!" he shouted, squeezing the trigger and spraying well over 25 bullets into them. They dropped like a sack of rotting flesh... Oh wait, they _were_ sacks of rotting flesh.

Killing the one Zealot that was stupidly looking at a wall, they gathered some pistol and TMP ammo before pausing before the door ahead of them.

"We should reload," Daisuke recommended. They did so, and tossed the empty ammo boxes away. Leon slung the shotgun to his back and shouldered the TMP, since he had 4 full mags and over 150 spare bullets for it now.

Daisuke filled his spare 30 round G36 mag with the 14 bullets he found before putting it back in his pack. Reloading his long mag for his G23 took some time, and he had 3 normal clips after that. Ashley thumbed 11 AP bullets into the clip that was in her 5-7.

"Ready to go?" Daisuke asked, sliding the long mag into his Glock with a satisfying _click_.

"Let's do it," Leon said confidently, switching the laser on his TMP on. They kicked open the double doors and found themselves in an expansive hall, full of Zealots. A High Zealot yelled and pointed at them as two blue cloaked ones advanced on each side with shields. Two more had crossbows and were aiming them at the trio.

"Dai, use your revolver to blast the ones with shields, I'll take care of the crossbow wielders!" Leon yelled, opening fire.

Daisuke holstered his G23 and drew the Raging Bull. Twirling it cowboy-style, he brought the twirl to his right and stopped the gun on its side, blowing a hole through the Zealot's wooden shield and shattering its skull, keeping the trigger depressed. Spinning the revolver barrel-downwards, he brought it to his left, and used his left hand to slap the hammer back. The hammer snapped back forward and Dai held the revolver at his hip as it discharged a round through the shield and into the gut of the other Zealot on the left.

Leon had killed the two crossbow shooters, but two more shielded Zealots appeared from doors on the sides. Leon reloaded his TMP and Ashley shot the one on the left to death with her 5-7, the bullets driving through the shields easily. Daisuke blew the one on the right away and Leon peppered the High Zealot with the TMP before letting it fall to his chest as it ran out of ammo. The High Zealot ran towards Leon with his flail, but the agent whipped out the 1911 and removed its head from its neck with a well-placed bullet to the throat.

Looking around, there seemed to be no more threats at the moment, so the trio wandered around, destroying pots and picking up items from them and the puddles.


	6. Chapter 6

Shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

Chapter 6

"Let's see what's downstairs?" Ashley suggested. They walked down the ramps which were flanked by beautiful waterfalls. If the place weren't so morbid and deadly, it would have been a great castle to live in.

Killing the long Zealot downstairs, they smashed two pots that housed pesatas and a frag grenade. Walking through the door behind them, they spotted 5 shotgun shells and a green herb, which Leon took. There seemed to be two pressure sensitive pads on the ground, and Leon and Ashley stepped on each one. They heard a mechanical noise outside, so went to the door.

Chanting was heard outside, so Leon gave Daisuke a nod as he equipped his shotgun. Dai crept up to the door with his Glock at the ready and kicked it down, sending a Zealot flying back. Dai stepped back as two with shields ran up only to have their heads vaporized by Leon's point blank blast. Hearing the pops of Ashley's 5-7, Dai saw her shooting at a Zealot that appeared from the ceiling. She killed it quickly thankfully, and ran to join them.

Outside they were surrounded by Zealots with flails, but Leon made short work of them with his 870 before reloading it. They ran up the ramp and dodged crossbow bolts from two Zealots on the balconies. Leon and Ashley ran back under cover while Dai holstered his G23.

Withdrawing two frags from his pouch, he pulled the pins on both of them. He now had 5 seconds. He ran out as quickly as he could, and leapt into the air, twisting around as he flew, popping the tops on each grenade. He threw them in a criss-cross throw, his right hand throwing left and left hand throwing right and landed as the grenades landed onto the balconies, blowing the crossbow Zealots sky high.

"Smooth move," Leon said as he and Ashley ran up. "Remniscant of The Matrix."

"You know me," Dai joked. They spotted a crank in the middle of the hall.

"I'm on it!" Ashley said cheerfully.

The crank brought the giant painting in front of them down, turning out to be a staircase. Unfortunetely, four blue robed Zealots and a High Zealot wielding farmer's scythes ran down the stairs.

"Uh oh," Leon said.

"Let me handle this pissants!" Dai said confidently, holstering his G23 and drawing his katana. Ignoring Ashley's cry of "Wait!" he charged the Zealots, who clearly weren't expecting such a bold move.

Daisuke spun and weaved through the Zealots, cutting them in half effortlessly with his razor sharp sword. One tried to throw its scythe at him, but he deflected it with his sword and decapitated the freak. The High Zealot barged down at him and locked his scythe with Dai's katana.

"_Morir es vivir!_" it cried, putrid breath making Dai gag.

Daisuke pushed the scythe off of his sword and quickly cut its handle in half. Next, the spun around, his katana going over his head, and down in a diagonal slash which cut the High Zealot's knees, making it sag to the floor. A quick flick of his wrist removed the goat masked head.

"Er, okay?" Leon said in confusion as Daisuke pulled a cleaning cloth from his pack and wiped the blood off his blade. "What the hell just happened?"

"I believe it's called ZOMGWTFBBQPWNxx0rEd," Daisuke said calmly. "Video game term."

The other two just shook their heads in amazement and the trio continued up the stairs. Dai's sniping skills were put to the test as he and Leon had to cover Ashley as she cranked two cranks on the third level. After eliminating a large group of Zealots, they collected the items dropped and quickly jumped over to the other side of the room.

The next room was another huge hall, with upside-down statues of women hanging in the middle. Their good friend the merchant waved at them at the other end of the hall. He was standing just before a narrow hallway.

"Nothin' new at the moment, but you can offload your cash and treasures, strangas!"

They did so, and a search of the area yielded 10 9mm rounds, 5 shotgun shells, a frag grenade and an elegant golden facemask with three divots in it. Leon and Dai brought out purple, green and blue gems that fit into the mask perfectly and sold it to the merchant for 30,000PTAS.

They continued on their journey, stepping into the hallway. Halfway through, Ashley started to cough violently, and the agents were horrified to see blood on her hands.

"Ashley!" Leon cried, reaching out for her.

She smacked his arm away. "I'm fine, leave me alone!" she screamed, running away. Dai reached out after her.

"Ashley, wait!" he yelled, but as soon as she was 10 feet away, a wall of spikes suddenly shot up, one cleanly punching through his outstretched arm. "ARRGH!"

Ashley turned at the sound of Dai's voice and her eyes widened. "Dai - eeee!" She jumped back as another wall of spikes shot up, and kept going as more forced her further away. She finally stopped at the wall in relief, only to scream again as three thick bars wrapped around her tiny figure.

"Leon, Daisuke, help!" she screamed as the wall spun around, taking her away from the agents. "What's going on..." Her voice faded away.

The spikes nearest to the wall began to slowly descend into the ground, and when they were done, the next row followed. Daisuke, who was pinned by the first wall, muttered, "Oh shit."

As the spikes in front of the ones he was impaled on slid into the ground, Dai began to panic as his started to move. Leon moved forward to try and help by grabbing the spike, but it was too strong for him to stop.

"Leon, my sword!" Dai shouted, pressing the pressure points. The sword snapped forward and Leon grabbed it and jammed it under the arrowhead tip just a foot before the spikes sank into the ground, most likely severing Dai's arm. The blade tip was stabbed into the concrete floor, and Leon had the hilt pushing onto his shoulder as he provided leverage to keep the spike up. Dai reached for the shotgun on Leon's back and aimed it at the spike, facing away from them.

BOOM!

The spike shattered, and both men fell back in relief. Well, Dai fell back in agony. Wrenching the spike from his arm, he clutched his heavily bleeding arm in pain. The bone had to be snapped as well. Leon quickly reached into his spray pouch and brought out the F.Aid spray. He sprayed copious amounts of the miracle spray onto Dai's arm and the younger man hissed as the spray turned to foam and began to sting as it worked its magic. He could feel his skin knitting back together and his bone begin to -

_CRACK_

"OH FUCK!" Dai screamed as his bone snapped back together excruciatingly. He wheezed, panted and all around threw a bitch fit about the pain.

"The important thing is that you're alive," Leon said. His comm suddenly beeped. "Hunnnigan?"

"I'm afraid not Mr. Scott Kennedy," Salazar's voice mocked.

"I'm gonna fucking _have you_!" Dai roared, reaching for the comm. Leon kept it away from the younger man's erratic lunges. "Where's Ashley?!"

"She'll be fine for the moment," Salazar crowed. "However we've decided to take control of your communications, agents. I let our miserable insects out in the sewer for some exercise!"

"Thanks," Leon said sarcastically. "That should give us better company than you."

Salazar laughed. "Why Mr. Kennedy, I think you confuse your importance with someone of _my_ standing."

"Hah!" Dai snorted. "We're twice the men you are in standing and height you little shitstick."

Salazar's face contorted in fury. "I look forward to our next encounter... in another life," he said ominously.

"Please, if I have to see your ugly face in the afterlife, I'd rather kick it in Limbo."

-----

The sewers, simply put: sucked.

It smelled like rotting corpses and feces. Not to mention that you were walking around in a river of said substances. Oh, and the super strong and occasionally invisible GIANT BUGS didn't help the situation either.

It was a hellish 20 minute romp through the damned sewers before Leon and Dai made it out, severely low on shotgun and TMP ammo. Dai had used up 2 speedloaders for his Raging Bull since the revolver killed the bugs in one shot.

The dynamic duo opened the door leading out of the sewers and emerged into a room with giant bladed pendulums. Some quick moves got them through to the other side where they found a formation of Velvet Blue growing on the ground. Climbing the ladder up brought them back to the hall with the upside-down statues. There was a large group of Zealots all in a circle, facing a High Zealot who was sacrificing a slab of meat. Daisuke hoped it wasn't Ashley. He popped a grenade and tossed it down from the balcony he and Leon were on, right into the center of the Zealots. It killed them all and he went down to collect 10 Spinels they dropped. The High Zealot dropped a pendant with the Las Illuminatos symbol on it. Upstairs, Leon used the chandeliers to cross over to the lever that raised the gates blocking their way to the merchant and the door out of here. Dai jogged up the stairs as they met with the merchant.

"Got an RPG if you want it," he offered, jerking his thumb to the Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher lying on a table behind him. "Who knows when you might need one?" he said with a loud laugh.

Daisuke and Leon looked at eachother. "Er, do we need it?" Dai asked the older man.

Leon shrugged. "I don't think we do at the moment," he said, eyeing the highly volatile weapon. "Got any F.Aid sprays?"

"I got two new bottles."

"We'll take those. Here's a bunch of Spinels and Velvet Blues."

-----

The next hour was spent chasing some High Zealot motherfucker in a maze-like room. He was holding a key that led out of the room and it finally took Leon's gunfire to draw the Zealot near the frag that Dai had tossed. It walked into it as it exploded, and the key flew into Leon's outstretched hand. They scrounged the area for some ammo and items, then used the key to entire a gallery room.

There was a puzzle that involved portraits of people being killed and they had to rotate them until six people were showing. Once they did, the entire wall slid to the left and showed a door hidden behind. They broke some pots to find shotgun shells and Leon used his knife to wedge a Velvet Blue out of a stuffed deer's head.

They appeared in a room where a large group of Zealots with scythes were waiting. Leon held them back with his shotgun and Dai sniped the crossbow wielders at either side of the end of upstairs. They made to cross the room when the portrait above slide upwards, revealing two Zealots with RPGs. Dai and Leon dove for cover as the floor they were previously standing on exploded. A short search of the doors showed a button hidden under a pot. Leon went to deactivate the security system and Dai pressed the button.

He heard automatic fire as Leon shot at some enemies outside, and he ran out just in time to see Leon kill the rocket launching Zealots. They crossed over to the platform that had risen out of the ground and opened the chest on it to find a goat ornament.

"This must be part of the plaque on the column in the entrance hall," Leon said as he shoved it into his pack. "Come on, we're one step closer to Ashley!"

-----

After crossing the roof, the pair entered a balcony above a small maze. They moved over to a door up ahead and found out that they needed a moon ornament to open the door. Leon's comm beeped.

"Do you like my maze?" Salazar's ever-annoying voice asked. Dai flipped his comm open so he could see/speak to the little bastard.

"I'd like it if it weren't owned by you, half pint," he growled. Just as he suspected, his insults to Salazar's vertically challenged height struck home.

"My pets will enjoy stripping the flesh from your bones!" he squealed angrily. "You'll never make it out of the maze alive!"

The comm went silent and both men put their devices away. Leon gave Dai a tired look. "Well, looks like we're heading into the maze," he sighed. "Better put a mag into your Glock and set it on auto. I got a baaad feeling about this."

"Right," Dai said, swapping his clip for a mag. He flicked the gun to auto. "Let's split up in the maze."

-----

Once down in the maze, Leon went left while Dai went right. He stalked through the maze slowly, eyes alert. He came upon a stairway to the arch above the maze and moved towards it. Suddenly, a big dog or wolf leapt down the stairs, and headed towards him, growling and snapping its jaws.

Daisuke fired two short bursts into the creature's skull and it dropped instantly. Growls behind him made Dai swirl around, firing automatically as two dogs leapt towards him. One was killed instantly, but the other one hit the ground and tentacles burst from its spine. Daisuke paid them no heed as he emptied the mag into the dog, killing it. He dumped the mag into his dump pouch and slid a fresh one in. He picked up the shotgun shells one of the dogs left behind, wondering how a dog would carry them.

The stairs led to one of the fountains, which held one half of the moon ornament. He slid it carefully into his pack and walked down the other side just in time to see Leon pour buckshot into a leaping down, splattering its shit all over the hedges.

"Fancy meeting you here," Dai grinned. "Got your piece?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Let's get out of here!"

-----

Both men placed their pieces into the door and it slid up, revealing a well furnished bedroom. Dai went to follow Leon but he suddenly stopped.

"Oh shit, I dropped my revolver out there!" he growled, noticing the lack of weight on his waist. "I'll catch up in a second!"

He ran back into the maze and luckily found his revolver where he first engaged the dogs. Sliding it back into its holster, he made sure it made a loud click before running back to catch up to Leon.

As he neared the door, he heard a female voice say, "See you later Leon!" He came up to a open window and saw a very fine, creamy white back in a red dress. The woman made to turn around, and Dai quickly drew his sword and leapt through the window, slamming into her and knocking the pistol out of her hand. He then pinned her to the wall with his katana.

The woman was clearly of Asian descent, and was as beautiful as a goddess. Her dress did nothing to hide her long creamy thighs (one that had a pistol holster on) and her modest bust was accented with an built in bra that boosted it up slightly. Her short black hair fell to her chin and her amused brown eyes looked at Dai with a twinkle.

"And you are?" she asked. God, even her voice was sexy. Deep and throaty.

"Might I inquire your name first?" Daisuke growled, shaking thoughts of her body out of his head. Leon walked up with his USP drawn.

"She's an... old friend of mine," he explained. Daisuke still didn't release her from his hold. "What are you doing here Ada?"

She smiled secretively. "Sightseeing?" she asked innocently, before surprising Dai by spinning in his grasp, using her long legs the sweep at his feet, knocking him down in a fantail kick. She was already on the move as Dai was falling, but he used his katana to break his fall and pivot his body towards her, coming up and smacking her in the side with the blunt side of the blade.

She grunted in pain, and lashed out with her stilleto heels, but Dai caught her leg with his left hand and slammed her into the corner of the room, planting the sword deeply into one side of the wall, trapping her by the throat. She stared at Daisuke with wide almond eyes as she panted from the exertion and pain of hitting the wall. The sharp blade was mere millimeters from her slender throat. Daisuke pinned her left arm behind her body painfully and gripped her right arm with his left. He pushed his legs into hers in what would look like a very intimate position, but it was to prevent her from kicking out again.

"You're fast, with excellent reflexes and control," Daisuke commented as he drew his Raging Bull and pointed it at her gorgeous face. "But unlike me, you lack enhanced kinesthesia."

"Ada" gave him a wry smile. "So that's how you knew where I was going and what I was going to do?" she asked with humor in her voice. "Are you going to shoot me now?"

"I wouldn't want to waste the bullets," Daisuke admitted, holstering the revolver. She smirked. "I'm not above yanking you forward by your hair," he added snidely. There we go, wide, fearful eyes again.

"Daisuke, cut it out!" Leon snapped harshly. "Ada, answer me or I'll let him do whatever he wants to you!"

Ada, sensing the cold anger in Leon's voice, replied, "I... was sent here by Wesker."

"WHAT?!" Leon exploded, almost making Daisuke flinch.

"And Wesker is... who?" Daisuke asked.

"An evil bastard, plain and simple," Leon growled. "He's responsible for enough problems with Umbrella and because of him, nearly all of the RPD are dead!"

Dai drew the revolver again. "She's working for him, should I kill her?" he asked, pulling the hammer back and pressing the barrel on her forehead.

Ada looked scared for once. "Leon... wait!" she said urgently.

Leon gave her a hard glare. "How many times have you stabbed me in the back?" he bit out. "Six years ago, during the outbreak, you screwed me over big time Ada! How do I know that you're not going to do it again?"

"I really don't want to splatter her shit all over the walls, but I will if you tell me to," Daisuke said tersely, digging the barrel into her forehead.

"Leon, there's a communicator on my right thigh!" Ada called to the angrily pacing blond. "It's linked to Wesker! Take it and destroy it, I'll lose him for good if you do!"

Leon just continued pacing, so Daisuke moved his index finger to the trigger. Ada's eyes actually teared up.

"Leon... please," she whispered.

Leon stopped pacing. He had never really heard Ada beg for her life before, or just beg period. He gave her a hard look. The tears in her eyes, were they genuine? How could he tell if she was lying or not? He slowly walked over to her and slid his fingers up her leg. She shivered, her large brown eyes never leaving his as his fingertips blazed a trail of hot touches up her thigh. He finally made contact with a small metal device and pulled it from its holster.

Pressing a button, the screen lit up to reveal the bastard, Wesker.

"Kennedy?!" he spat. "What have you done with Ada?!"

"Sorry Al, but she's out of action now," Leon snarled. "I suggest you give up whatever the hell you were trying to do!"

Wesker sneered at Leon through his dark sunglasses. "You'll meet yours soon Kennedy, don't worry about that."

The screen shut off and Leon hurled it at the opposite wall, shattering it to pieces. He turned back to Ada, who had a relieved look on her face.

"Well, I'm out five million dollars, but..." she gave Leon a searching look. "He wanted me to kill you Leon. Your life wasn't worth the money."

Leon gazed into her cinnamon eyes. "Ada..."

They stared at eachother for a while before Daisuke impatiently asked, "Uh Leon? Do I let her live or what?"


	7. Chapter 7

As you can see, Ada is now on the side that she belongs to! Of course, that doesn't mean she doesn't have a hidden agenda still... She's very mysterious...

* * *

Chapter 7

So Daisuke had to admit that the woman named Ada Wong knew her shit. She told Leon everything she knew about Las Plagas, Saddler, Umbrella's plans and herself. She and Leon had some sort of romatic history perhaps, and the way that they kept glancing at eachother and touching hands every once in a while was enough to make Daisuke sick. Now he knew how Leon felt when he and Ashley mingled.

Ashley... Dai involuntarily growled, his thoughts centered on his blond princess. She had better be okay, or Salazar was going to be cut even shorter than he normally was!

They had searched the elegant bedroom and found a frag grenade, some ammo and money. Ada carried only a Glock 17 pistol that was highly upgraded, and in fact, Daisuke had no idea where she hid her spare clips. Leon gave her his TMP despite her protests, but she took it anyways. It hung on her shoulder and was tightly strapped to her back, the ability to quickly draw it was available. The mags were currently still in Leon's vest since Ada had no pouches to hold them. A quick unadulterated glance at her creamy left thigh showed a triple mag pouch on a thigh rig.

The trio quickly travelled through the dining hall, castle roof, and back to the dining hall where they found two dining tables full of fresh food and drinks. They quickly killed the two Zealots and the one High in the area. Leon was inspecting some plaques.

"I think we have to shoot a wine glass," he announced. They found a button that opened up a sort of shooting range. At the end was a painting with a real bottle of wine and a glass beside it. Dai used his SL-9 to shatter the bottle and the door to the room beside it opened.

Leon went in first, towards a pedestal that held a treasure chest. Daisuke and Ada had just entered the room when suddenly, a cage fell around Leon, and a huge bladed monster like from the prison jumped in along with a Zealot!

"Leon!" they both cried, and ran forward, only to dodge and open fire on Zealots that appeared from above. Leon pulled his shotgun out and killed the lone Zealot in the cage, and had to roll behind the pedestal to avoid a deathly attack from the monster. Dai and Ada were fighting throngs of Zealots that jumped from the second floor down, and Leon snuck around the cage to avoid the monster, who was listening for him. Fortuntely, the sounds of gunfire from Dai and Ada distracted it from finding Leon and it turned around. Leon quickly aimed the shotgun and fired into its back from less than 2 feet away. It roared in anger and Leon quickly pumped another shell into the chamber and blew it to bits before it could turn around again.

Daisuke and Ada finally killed the last Zealot with a bullet from each to its skull and ran over to the cage. Leon opened the treasure chest to find a golden hourglass. He used his shotgun to blast the padlock on the door away and was swept into an embrace by Ada.

"You idiot, don't ever go ahead without me again!" she scolded, smacking him lightly on the back of his head.

Leon gave her a sheepish grin. "Uh, sorry Ada," he eloquently answered.

They heard a click and the door across the room unlocked. Finding a flashbang and pistol rounds, they left the room quickly.

-----

The room they entered next was a small area on the second floor, where a giant gated entrance was blocking the way into the next area. There were a few Zealots and a High Zealot downstairs, so the trio quickly jumped down and killed them. Daisuke flipped the lever as Leon reloaded his shotgun while Ada kept watch. Two rising platforms came out of the ground to create a walkway up on the second floor and they climbed up the ladder to cross it. Daisuke released a burst of automatic fire into the shielded Zealots that burst through the door and they ran across the walkway quickly, and turned left to the second area. Leon avoided getting hit by a crossbow bolt, and Dai drew his SL-9 to kill the bastard who fired it. Ada used her new TMP to kill the last Zealot in the area and they walked over to a large display case which housed a bunch of ammo, herbs, money and an RPG in the center.

They all used the ammo boxes to reload their guns and split the cash and herbs. Leon took the RPG since he knew how to use it and they returned upstairs to exit through the door.

-----

"Hey Leon - what the hell?" Luis stopped mid sentence as he caught site of Ada. "What are you doing?"

"The right thing," Ada answered, who was then rewarded with a smile from Leon. Luis shrugged.

"Check it out, I've stolen Saddler's last plaga sample - urk."

A bloody red tip appeared on his chest. The others watched in horror as a giant claw burst through his chest and raised him into the air. Saddler was behind Luis as the man dropped the purple vial and he caught it. With a smirk, he slammed Luis into the ground and the long scorpion-like tail dissapeared into his robes. He left the room and the three ran up to Luis' body.

"Luis!" Leon yelled, wiping away the blood that was pooling on his chest. Daisuke shook his head, there was no way he could survive a wound like that, not even 10 F.Aid sprays would cure it.

"Leave i!" Luis rasped, smacking Leon's hand away. "Listen to me. I am... a researcher, working on Las Plagas! I was... going to bring the sample to Ada for destruction... cough Saddler found me out!"

Ada touched Luis' hand. "Luis..."

He coughed up some blood and grinned at her. "What did I tell you... Leon?" he choked. "Good.. with the ladies. Here."

He pressed a large bottle into Leon's hands. It held a bunch of blue/orange colored pills. "These drugs will help with your convulsions! Stop... Saddler..."

His eyes lolled up into his skull and Luis sagged onto the ground.

"Luis!" Leon cried. "LUIS!"

"He's gone," Ada whispered in disbelief. "Killed for a damn parasite... Is this what Wesker wants? Death and destruction?"

Suddenly, faint screaming could be heard. "Leon! Daisuke! Heeeeeeeelp!"

"It's Ashley!" Dai yelled, jumping up and running away. Ada ran after him. Leon laid Luis' hands together on his stomach and whispered, "I'll avenge you Luis..."

"Ashley!" Daisuke called in relief. She was still tied up in those three braces, but she was still alive at least. "Hold on, I'll get you out of there!"

He readied his SL-9. Ashley began to panic.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?!" she shrieked.

Dai paid her no mind as he blasted the first brace off of her. She screamed from the close hit and struggled a bit. Dai shot the middle one off and she placed her hands on the last one, trying to get them open. Daisuke shot them off and she shrieked again, the sparks hitting her hands. Daisuke laughed.

She looked up and glared at him. "That is _so_ not funny mister!" she yelled.

"Look out!" Ada cried.

A door had opened and a group of Zealots ran through. Dai took aim and killed three of them while Ashley fumbled to draw her 5-7. More Zealots poured through the door followed by a High Priest Zealot with a golden goat mask. Ashley began shooting the ones closest to her while Ada and Leon began to open fire on the others. Daisuke killed the Priest with four shots to the heart, and soon they were all dead.

"Ashley, are you okay?" Daisuke yelled, looking down at her.

"Yeah, I'm good!" she called. She picked up a key that the priest had dropped. "I think this key can open that door over there!"

"Ashley, be careful!" Leon called. She nodded and opened the door. After reloading her 5-7, she left the others behind upstairs.

-----

"Is she your girlfriend?" Ada's sexy voice purred behind Daisuke. He was sitting down on one of the chairs while Leon went around searching for items. He looked over to the seductress and shrugged.

"Maybe, one day," he said wistfully. "We like eachother enough if that's what you mean. What about you and Leon?"

She smiled and sat down beside him, crossing her legs. She uncrossed them and swung the opposite leg over. "It's complicated," she said. "I first met Leon during the outbreak in Racoon City. I was looking for my boyfriend at the time, so obviously nothing could happen. But when I found out he was dead, and Leon saved my life several times... I began to feel for him."

"Sounds deep," Dai commented and she laughed.

"It sounds like it, doesn't it?" she asked. With another small smile, she patted him on the shoulder and went over to Leon, placing her hand on his arm as he stood over Luis' body.

A door opening caught Dai's attention about 20 minutes later and he was relieved to see Ashley walk out of it.

"Ashley!" he cried, getting up as she slammed into him for a hug. "You did good!"

"I missed you," she said childishly. "It was dark and freaky down there! But look, I found the serpent ornament!"

"Good job Ashley!" Leon congratulated. Ada came up to his side and gave Ashley a small smile. "This is Ada."

Ashley shook the beautiful woman's hand. "Pleasure to meet you," she said politely.

"You too," Ada said. "We should get a move on.

As the exited the area, Daisuke heard Ashley say, "Is that a rocket launcher?!"

-----

A long journey later, and Leon and Daisuke battling Zealots on hanging dragon statues that spit fire over a giant lava pit afterwards, the group now had the lion ornament, finding all the pieces needed.

They all rode on the transport trolly quietly until it brought them back to the entrance hall. They slide the pieces into the plaque and watched as the column sunk into the ground. Walking forward, they found another trolly that took them to a new area where the merchant was hanging out behind a table with his wares on it.

"Been a while strangas," he greeted. "Oo's the pretty lady?"

"Friend of ours," Leon said. "Got anything new for sale?"

"I've got custom upgrade parts for your weapons," the merchant said. "Levels three to five."

"What does level five do?" Daisuke asked.

"Replaces the barrels with high performance ones, allows for more accurate shooting and higher velocities, which mean more powa," the merchant said. "I also include Hogue handgrips for comfort and stability. That's for the pistols. Your rifle will be upgraded with a tightbore barrel, for accuracy and range, and it has a built-in silencer covering it. I can also replace the firing assembly to let it fire a bit quicker. That revolver of yours can take an eight inch barrel if you want, but not much else can be done to it. As for the shotgun, I've got a fullsize barrel assembly, so you can fit nine shells into it. The TMP can be fitted with a silencer as well, and I've got custom fifty round mags for sale. They're only a bit longer than normal."

"Wow, that's a lot of stuff," Leon said. "Alright, how much will it cost us all?"

"If yeh do it all at once, I'll have yeh for 200 grand," he said.

They quickly sold their treasures and gems, which gave them slightly more than enough pesatas. It took nearly half an hour for the merchant to upgrade the weapons, and they were now left with 9,350PTAS.

"Come back anytime!" the merchant said happily as he shovelled the coins into his case.

-----

A spectacular series of fights later and all that resulted was Ashley getting carried away by one of those huge bugs. The ensuing battle under the giant hive was hair raising, and it ended with the hive getting destroyed and Leon, Dai and Ada getting showered with different colored jewel eyes. They picked up as many as they could and completed a Butterfly lamp that Ada had.

They met up with the merchant again and sold him over 100,000 pesatas worth of red, green and blue eyes along with the Butterfly lamp. They bought another two F.Aid sprays and gave Ada one. As they exited the castle, they saw a massive clock tower up ahead. A faint cry reached their ears and Leon pulled his digital binoculars out and saw Ashley being carried away by Zealots.

"Damn, they're getting away," Leon muttered. He spied two Zealots patrolling up on the clocktower. "Dai, can you snipe those two?"

Two muffled shots later, the Zealots were killed. Daisuke marvelled at the incredibly silent rifle now. They ran across the bridge and then dived forward as two catapaults opened fire on them. Daisuke quickly blew them up and they headed up the left side of the clocktower. Leon killed the two Zealots standing around stupidly and Ada collected some ammo, which she stuffed into Leon's pack. They ran around the clocktower and found a door which they opened and entered.

It was fairly empty, so they made their way downstairs. To their dismay, the lower door was locked, and they would have to somehow open it.

"Let's try going upstairs," Ada suggested. The two agents agreed with her and they systematically went up each ladder. The men went first of course, and Ada last since she didn't want anyone seeing her lacy black thong underneath her revealing dress.

They made it to the top and Leon found a switch for the motor that controlled the clock. He pulled the lever, but nothing happened. Daisuke looked at the gears and noticed several blocks of wood jamming them.

"Look!" he said, pointing. "There are three blocks of wood jamming the gears! Let me take them out!"

He thumbed all of his rifle ammo into the G36 mags and loaded one up into the SL-9. Taking careful aim, he shattered the wood blocks and the clock gears started to move again. While still looking through his scope, Dai saw a large group of Zealots enter through the now unlocked door.

"The door's unlocked, and we've got company!" he warned Leon and Ada, pushing his SL-9 to his back and drawing his Glock.

Halfway down, Ada snapped her arm up and shot at a flying dynamite stick. It was closer to it's sender however, and blew him and another ugly apart. The three alternated fire as they climbed down the clocktower and when they reached the bottom floor, had to quickly disperse of a large group of scythe wielding Zealots. Pushing their way outside, they began to cross the bridge to the area where Ashley was taken.

"_Ai esta!_" (AN: my Spanish sucks, I'm just typing what I hear)

"_Muere!_"

They were surrounded on both ends of the bridge! Leon quickly strapped his short range Remington 870 away and drew his USP. Daisuke began taking pot shots with the SL-9 at the Zealots ahead of them while Ada covered their rear with her TMP. The 50 round mags were clearly proving their worth as she emptied them into the onslaught.

Leon hurled a frag grenade towards the High Zealot and his buddies and they were blown off their feet. The lower Zealots died, but the one in red stood back up, calling for a Zealot with an RPG!

Daisuke's suppressed SL-9 made a _toooo!_ noise as a .308 bullet ripped the RPG Zealot's head to shreds and Leon breathed a sigh of relief. Another suppressed shot killed the High Zealot at last. The trio ran across the bridge and threw open the front doors.

Then they skidded to a stop as they saw two huge bladed monsters with two Zealots. Daisuke blanched and ran back out the door.

"Great partner, isn't he?" Ada asked dryly as she hefted the TMP in her hands.

"I'm fucking amazing!" Daisuke shouted as he burst back into the room, carrying the fallen Zealot's RPG. Leon and Ada dived to each side as he fired the round directly into the middle of the Garradors and Zealots, blowing them to kingdom come.

Leon rubbed his sore arm, which he had fallen on. "Some warning next time please?" he muttered as he got up. Ada's dress was blown over her legs and he got a great view of her racy black thong before helping her up. It was slightly transparent... She brushed the dress back down and gave him a knowing smile. His face grew red.

"Come on, let's go!" Daisuke shouted, tossing the used launcher away. He drew his G23 and began collecting fallen items. Then the trio ran up the corridors and into another entrance hall, where they stopped when they saw what was before them.

Salazar was cackling madly as Ashley was held hostage behind two of his giant guards. The little shit was giggling madly as he sat in some sort of throne.

"Your persistance is admirable!" he said. He spied Ada. "And who is this? You must be the third party my Lord spoke of."

"No, I'm with this party," Ada retorted, giving the short man a dirty look.

Salazar gazed at her beautiful face. "If you say so," he said, turning back to Leon and Daisuke. "Must you two be the proverbial thorn in my side?"

Daisuke ran forward onto a decorated set of tiles. He never noticed Salazar's grin. "Let Ashley go now you ugly fucker!"

"I'm afraid my patience with you has waned thin," Salazar said eerily, pressing a button on his throne. The wind was sucked towards Daisuke as the tiles beneath him gave way, dropping him into a long pit.

"Daisuke!" his three friends yelled.

The young agent was falling... He quickly brought out his katana and forced it into the stone wall in front of him, slowing his descent until he could secure his feet against some footholds.

-----

Salazar pressed a listening device to his ear. "Hmm?" he mumbled, ignoring Ada and Leon. "Where is the satisfying sound of one's impalement?"

Suddenly, the gramophone exploded, "YOU LITTLE MIDGET MOTHERFUCKER! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'LL SHOVE A GRENADE UP YOUR ASS **_SO_** FAR THAT YOU'LL SPIT OUT INNARDS!"

Leon laughed as Salazar leapt to his feet and threw a tantrum. "_How dare you!_" he shrieked in a very high pitched voice. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

He spotted Leon and Ada. "Kill!" he shrieked, pointing at them furiously. The guard in black advanced on them...


	8. Chapter 8

Short chapter, I'm building up the next one so that's why. Thanks for the reviews so far, they've been very supportive!

* * *

Chapter 8

"Kill!"

"Oh crap," Leon muttered as the creature in the black robes advanced on him and Ada. It carried a mean-looking spear and from underneath its hood Leon could see a pair of insect-like mandibles gnashing together in anticipation.

Leon quickly drew his shotgun and made to fire when suddenly the guard leapt forward so quickly that he and Ada didn't have a chance to duck. With a powerful sweep, it used its staff to knock the two Americans into the gaping pit hole that Daisuke had fallen into.

"Guys, no!" Ashley screamed.

-----

Dai was slowly and carefully making his way down the hole when he heard two screams and looked up.

"Oh shiiiiit," he muttered as he braced himself. He jabbed his sword into the rock securely and found deep footholds to keep him from getting knocked down.

"OOOF!"

Leon landed onto Dai's back as the younger man fought to keep himself steady. A cry from Ada was heard and he quickly shot his arm out and grabbed her leg as she fell past the two agents.

"Nice catch," she said, looking up at him as she dangled upside-down. "You mind keeping your eyes somewhere safe hot stuff?"

"Eh heh," Dai mumbled, snapping his eyes up from the very generous view of Ada's thong. Since she was hanging upside-down, her dress was hanging down near her shoulders and her exquisite lower body was bare to the world, or at least Daisuke and Leon.

A small shot and then a crack sounded and the two men looked to see Ada holding onto a grapple gun that she had fired. "You can let me go now," she told Dai. He did so and she thankfully righted herself up.

With some teamwork, the trio used Ada and Leon's grappling hooks to make their way down and avoided the huge spikes at the bottom of the pit. The area they were in was a large sewer of some sort, littered with impaled bodies and rotting corpses. The merchant was hanging out near a ladder.

Pinching their noses, the group found several treasures including a crown, and some cash and ammo. The merchant had a new shotgun available, a DAO-12 Striker shotgun that resembled one of those rotary grenade launchers. No one wanted to buy the bulky, short range auto shotgun, so they just sold their gems and treasures before heading up the ladder.

-----

They entered some sort of tunnel area. They heard animalistic growls above their heads, but when they looked up, they could only see a rock ceiling. Nonetheless, all three Americans made sure they had their weapons out.

They headed to the nearest door which held a few machines, a big tank of liquid nitrogen and a desk in the middle. Leon pocketed the shotgun shells on the table and Ada walked over to the elevator at the back.

"Looks like the power's out," she announced, jabbing at the call button. "There's a power room nearby however."

"Let's go then," Leon ordered. They exited the room and he felt some dirt fall onto his head. Instinctively ducking, he narrowly missed getting a scorpion-like tail impale the top of his head. The others went to fire at whatever it was, but it dissapeared quickly.

"Keep an eye out of falling bits of the ceiling," Leon warned, gripping his 870 tightly. "That was close!"

Daisuke holstered his G23 and drew the Raging Bull. With the 8 inch barrel, it was now endearingly the Handcannon's little brother. The extra 2 inches of barrel length weighed down the gun quite a bit since the barrel was compensated and had weights inside to reduce recoil.

Ada loaded a 50 round mag into her TMP as they entered another room further ahead. It was filled with cages full of machinery and there were a few consoles and nitrogen tanks laying around. Daisuke dodged another tail spike as they made their way deeper into the room. Ada finally found the power switch.

"Got it!" she said triumphantly as she flipped the lever. A loud beep was heard and they looked to the door only to see it slam shut. Running back, Leon looked at the information screen.

"It says it has to lockdown for three minutes as it reboots the system," he announced. Growling was heard up ahead. "We've got company!"

The ceiling nearby exploded as a huge monster dropped down, clicking its mandibles in anticipation of human flesh. It was at least 8 or 9 feet tall and its scorpion tail waved behind it dangerously.

"Shit!" Daisuke yelled, firing a .44mag round into the monster's chest. The increased velocity of the 8 inch barrel made the bullet fly out at hypersonic speeds (AN: most likely around around 9 or 10,000Kmph) and blew a bloody 6 inch hole into the creature. It roared angrily and slashed out at Daisuke, who barely ducked as Ada opened fire into it.

It leapt up back into the hole in the ceiling Leon yelled at them to watch their heads. The tail came down and Ada tried to dodge, but she was seriously slashed as it cut into her back. She crumpled to the ground as Leon roared in fury and unloaded buckshot into the tail, making the monster fall onto the ground.

"I've got you Ada!" he cried, grabbing her by the waist and dragging her back to the door. Daisuke put another round into the creature's head, making it stagger back for a moment, dazed.

Ada spat out at the monster, "Take this!"

She sprayed wildly at the monster and one of her bullets struck the nitrogen tank, making it spray its subzero contents onto the monster, which shrieked in pain as various parts of its body were frozen.

_Beeeeeep!_

"The door's unlocked, let's get the hell out of here!" Leon shouted, tossing the shotgun to Daisuke. "Cover me while I carry Ada!"

Dai caught the Remington in his left hand as he fired once more at the monster, this time at its frozen arm. The arm shattered and the creature howled in agony. He quickly holstered the revolver and swapped the shotgun's grip to his right hand, before running out the door.

Leon was carrying Ada fireman's style about twenty feet away and Dai ran to catch up. Suddenly he saw the ceiling quake in front of him and he threw himself to the left, just barely avoiding getting crushed. The monster slashed out at him and he cried out in pain as its claws bit deeply into his thigh, tearing a small chunk of flesh out.

"Argh! You bastard!" he shouted, pulling the shotgun up and shooting it point blank into the stomach, making it fly back several feet. It landed in front of another nitrogen tank, and Dai pumped the shotgun, aiming at it. Another blast coated the monster in ice before Dai got up, using the shotgun as a crutch as he hobbled after Leon and Ada.

Looking back at the creature, which was beginning to melt, he took out a frag grenade and hurled it towards the monster. The grenade exploded, shattering the frozen beast into a million pieces.

"Heh," Dai panted as he wobbled away. "Take that."

-----

"You're lucky it missed your spine," Leon said tenderly as he sprayed Ada's open back with her F.Aid spray. She hissed and clutched the table in the elevator room tightly. "You should be fine in a few moments."

A resounding explosion shook the door outside. Ada raised her eyebrow.

"Your partner okay out there?" she asked worriedly. Leon laughed.

"He's been through worse," he replied, checking her back out. "There, you're healed up now."

Ada said nothing as she leaned back onto his chest, and he automatically wrapped his arms around her lithe frame. She sighed in content. "I've missed you Leon."

Just as he leaned forward to place a kiss on her exposed neck, Daisuke staggered into the room, giving them a dirty glare.

"I understand saving her finely toned ass, but who was gonna save mine?" he panted as he threw himself onto a chair, the shotgun abandoned on the floor nearby.

Leon and Ada sprang apart, though still holding hands. "Sorry about that," Leon admitted sheepishly. "Although it sounded like you had things under control over there."

Daisuke pouted, something the other two thought was out of character for him. "I suppose," he sulked. "One of you mind taking an F.Aid spray out of my pack and HEALING THE MASSIVE HOLE IN MY LEG?!"

Leon continued playing doctor as he pulled one of the two spray cans in Dai's pack out. He winced as he saw the wound on Dai's leg. It was at least 3 inches wide, and almost as deep. A large portion of flesh and muscle had been torn out. It looked extremely painful.

Filling the blood soaked hole with the white foam of the spray, Leon watched as the foam transformed slowly, regnerating the muscle, fat and flesh on Dai's leg. Finally the foam transformed into skin and it slowly changed to match Dai's pale skin tone. Dai gave a huge breath and leaned back into the chair.

"That looked like it hurt," Ada commented. Dai shrugged.

"It did," he said shortly. "You ok?"

She nodded. She jerked her thumb towards the elevator. "We should get going."

Leon picked up the shotgun and thumbed four shells into it. "Ok I'm ready to go."

Dai pulled his .44 rounds out of his pack and opened the cylinder on his Bull. He pulled out the two empty casings and replaced them with loaded ones. Snapping the cylinder back, the holstered it before taking out his Glock. "Let's do it!"

-----

They found a green herb and some money in the barrels after they got out of the elevator. The merchant waved them down from his spot by the wall after they entered the main part of some sort of mining area.

"Got somefing that might interest ya," he said, showing them his new wares.

The newest additions to his collection were a full size Glock 34 pistol that looked highly modified, a sort of large shotgun-like weapon, and a Beretta M93R autopistol that came with a folding stock.

There was also a new can of F.Aid spray and what looked like upgrade parts.

They decided to pass on the G34 since it was quite long (it was normally used as a competition pistol) and Leon asked what the large weapon was.

"This 'ere's a Mine Launcha," the merchant said. "It's like a big eight gauge shotgun that fires explosive grenade-like rounds. Very handy against large enemies."

"How many rounds does it hold?" Daisuke asked, now very interested. He loved grenades!

"Eight rounds in the magazine," the merchant said. "The mine darts 'ave to be handloaded into the mag."

Leon shared a look with Daisuke. "May as well take it," he said. "Who knows what else is out there?"

Daisuke quickly bought the Mine Launcher and slung it to his back, grunting with the extra weight on his back. He could rough it.

They made their way into the mine, following the train tracks to a large area with a huge mining drill in the center. There was a boulder blocking the way to the door out, and Leon spied a lever. He pulled it, sending a mine cart to fly over to the mining area, stopping at what looked to be an elevator that would bring it down. Shrugging, the heavily armed trio entered the mining area, blasting away at the Ganados that were mining Plagas. Ada went to operate the switch that would bring the cart down, but it stopped halfway because of the circuit overloading. She ran to the other side of the mine and flipped the circuit breaker, causing a group of Ganados and a chainsaw wielding man with a sack on his head to charge out from the tracks.

"Oh shit!" Leon yelled, shooting at Dr.Salvador, his buckshot rounds slowing the man down somewhat. Daisuke killed the five Ganados, but Salvador was gaining on Leon. Thinking quickly, Dai holstered his G23 and brought out the Mine Launcher. Sliding his arm through the arm brace, he wrapped his hand around the ergonomic grip and steadied the launcher with his left hand on the foregrip. He lined the visible green laser on Salvador and the green line was clearly visible as it landed on the man's back. Daisuke squeezed the trigger and the launcher made a sharp _whump_ and fired a mine dart.

It embedded itself into Salvador's back, and he yowled, stopping his attack on Leon as he pawed at his back, trying to grab the dart that was in the middle of his back, right under the shoulder blades, where he couldn't reach it.

Beep, _beep, BEEP!_ BOOM!

Leon covered himself with his arms and gore and entrails rained around him. He looked up to see Salvador's feet on the ground and a cloud of red blood rain down in front of him. Daisuke was standing further back with a silly grin on his face.

"AWESOME!" he shouted.

Ada walked by Leon, shaking her head at the other man before turning the lever for the cart elevator again, bringing the cart down all the way. She reached over and grabbed the pack of dynamite. Walking over to Dai, she stole his lighter and then went back to place the dynamite on the boulder. Lighting it, she and the other two ran for cover.

The explosion rained rocks everywhere and when the dust settled, the trio exited through the door.

-----

"Whoa, it's hot in here!" Daisuke gasped as he pulled at his collar. They were in a huge furnace room and underneath their feet they saw lava flowing beneath them. There was a giant circle drop gate in the middle of the room and a lever for it to their left. They wandered around the furnace room, picking up shotgun, pistol and TMP ammo as well as a green and yellow herb. As they went to the doors at the other side, they suddenly slammed open and two HUGE Gigantes thundered into the room. They were at least twice the size of normal ones!

The three scrambled back as the Gigantes took thundering steps towards them. Leon noticed a ladder that led up to a platform with a cable grip that would take him to the gate lever.

"Dai, Ada, try to distract them towards the middle while I get up there!" he shouted, pointing at the platform. They both nodded and started to pepper the Gigantes with pistol and TMP fire.

The giants roared and stomped heavily towards the two as Leon threw himself up the ladder as quickly as he could. Once at the top, he used the cable grip to slide down over to the gate lever. Landing, he looked over his shoulder to see both Gigantes advancing on Dai and Ada, and when the second one stepped onto the gate as it followed its brother, Leon threw the switch down.

Both giants bellowed in surprise as the floor under them gave way, and they fell into the lava below. Dai and Ada threw themselves back to avoid getting melted by flying lava, and they all watched as the Gigantes screamed as they were disintigrated alive. Dai got up and helped Ada to her feet.

"Well," he said, walking around the edge as he peered down, "That was clo -"

A melting arm shot out of the lava pit, scaring the shit out of Dai as he screamed and fell back onto his ass. Leon aimed his shotgun at the arm, but it was clearly just the Gigantes' final death throe as it sank back into the lava.

"Jumpy much?" Ada laughed as she helped a red faced Daisuke to his feet.

"You'd have been scared too," he grumbled. The older two laughed at him some more as they exited the furnice room.

-----

They entered what appeared to be an expansive cavern, and Daisuke heard something he wished he never heard again: buzzing. Insect buzzing to be exact.

Several of the bugs landed nearby and clacked their mandibles together eagerly. Leon and Ada opened shotgun and TMP fire on them as Dai pulled out his SL-9. There was a bug flying near them so he aimed for its wing and fired. The suppressed bullet flew out and tore the bug's left wing from it's body, making it shriek in surprise as it fell at least a mile or two to its death.

Leon and Ada had taken care of the nearest bugs, and they kept watch at the slowly approaching bugs as Daisuke read a pedestal. "Looks like we have to lit those statue's eyes to open the door," he announced. "There should be entrances into the statues which hold the buttons."

Leon took out his binoculars as he zoomed on the nearest statue. He saw an entranceway into it. "I see one, let's get a move on!" he said, putting the binoculars away and hefting the 870 again. He thumbed in 4 shells and lead the way.

-----

They made it out of the hive in their three collective one-pieces and found a smaller cavern with a pedestal. Ada walked up and found a Royal Insignia on top. Leon felt around the pedestal and his fingers ran over a button, which started to make the pedestal rise up. All three hastily got on and were taken up to the outside.


	9. Chapter 9

I've noticed that I've spelled Salazaar's name wrong. It needed another A. Anyways, here's a new update. I kind of forgot what happened in the game next, so I had to open the movie browser lol. If anyone feels that the story is slightly getting rushed, it's cuz, well, I have a sick ass sequel planned for the group when they get back to Washington. Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 9

"I... hate... FUCKING MINECARS!" Daisuke exploded as he, Leon and a ruffled Ada exited the secret underground area in the cathedral area.

"For once, I totally agree with you," Ada muttered, trying to smooth the frayings in her dress. during the trip in the minecart, she had been knocked out of the thing, almost plummeting to her death if she hadn't used her grapple gun to attach herself to the cart, being dragged through the air for the last portion of the trip.

"Come on, let's hurry up and get inside," Leon said, placing the Lion Crest into the door. It unlocked and the three hurriedly rushed inside, guns at the ready.

A short walk throughout the cathedral (and many Zealots later), they came upon a giant statue of Salazaar. Their way out was blocked by deep water.

"Thinks rather... highly of himself, don't he?" Daisuke sniggered, but neither of his older companions got the joke. Leon used his binoculars to scope out the gated areas.

"Looks like there are switches over there," he said, pointing to the third floor across from them. He spied the ladder to their right. "Let's get across!"

"_Ai esta!_" Several higher class Zealots jumped around them, onto the statue and behind them. Some tried to jump over onto the flat palms of the statue, but a shot from Leon's 870 sent them crashing to the ground 20 feet below.

"Let's get a move on!" Leon shouted, jumping over to the left palm. Daisuke spun around and let out a long burst of auto fire from his G23 before following Ada onto the palm as Leon jumped onto the platform next. They crossed over to the other side and killed the High Zealot inside it. Leon quickly threw a switch which made the statue move its arms up and down, and also left and right.

"..."

"Thanks a lot Leon," Ada said shortly. She watched as both men took careful leaps onto the palms, fighting off Zealots while trying to traverse to the third floor. Looking around she saw that the top floors' gates had been opened. With a smirk, she pulled out her grapple gun.

-----

"Almost there!" Daisuke shouted as he shot the arm of a Zealot that was currently sharing the right palm with him. It dropped its flail, and recoiled back. Growling, it turned back just in time to get headbutted by Daisuke, and with a scream, he fell off of the palm, falling three stories and splattering his brains on the ground below.

Dai jumped onto the left palm just as Leon blew another Zealot who was trying to jump onto it from the room they were trying to reach. Both men jumped quickly just as the palm went downwards, and landed into the room.

"Took you long enough," Ada laughed, putting her grapple gun away. She giggled lightly at their dumbfounded faces as she walked over and threw the switch that operated the rising floors. In the distance, the pathway to the door rose, and they quickly made their way back down to the ground floor.

"That wasn't so hard," Daisuke commented once they were halfway down the path. A loud rumble made him groan. "Now what?"

The three turned around to see the statue of Salazaar start to walk towards them. Almost automatically, all three said at the same time: "Shit."

Ada was the first to bolt, followed closely by Leon and Daisuke. The giant stone monstrosity was beginning to pick up speed and it lumbered after them, knocking down pillars that the trio had to dodge. They made it to the door as fast as they could.

Ada, who was in front, saw the padlock on the door and raised her G17. Still running, she fired wildly at the lock, missing a few times because she was running, but she finally shattered it just as they reached the door. Using her shoulder, she slammed the door open and the three of them fell outside.

"Phew, that was close!" Daisuke laughed as they got up, dusting themselves off. "Good thing that statue can't -"

_CRASH!_

The giant stone Salazaar burst through the wall and Leon groaned.

"Keep your mouth shut in the future, got it?" he yelled as they began running again. The three dashed across the bridge as the statue gave pursuit. However, it was apparent that its giant weight and thundering footsteps were taking a toll on the bridge, because it began to flex and crack.

"Jump!" Leon yelled.

"Jump!" Ada agreed, and they did.

The bridge collasped as they threw themselves foward, barely making the distance and grabbing onto whatever they could. They dangled at the other side and watched the statue fall a _very_ long way to its destruction.

Ada sighed and reached for her grapple gun. Pointing it towards the large door above them, she fired, waiting for the hook to grip into the wood. Once it did, she pushed the button to wind herself up.

Leon and Daisuke opted to pull themselves up with their big manly muscles (something Ada watched with a twinkle in her eye, she _was_ one who could appreciate the male body) and they caught their breaths before opening the door to whatever challanges lay ahead...

-----

"I commend you on making it this far," Salazaar's annoying voice said as they saw him and the red guard waiting for them inside. "But I'm afraid that your time... is _up_."

"Where have you taken Ashley?!" Daisuke shouted, his hands gripping his Raging Bull tightly.

Salazaar laughed wildly. "She's being prepared for the ritual!" he cackled, walking towards a pillar. He waved his hand up. "Once the ritual is complete, we will be unstoppable!"

_Fwiiiip!_

Leon's combat knife secured Salazaar's hand to the pillar.

"Ah! Ahahahaha!" the little man made a strange noise between pain and laughter. Blood ran down his hand as he stared at it in horror.

The red guard quickly moved up and removed the knife from the wall and Salazaar's hand, and in a heartbeat, threw it at Leon. The older agent leaned to his left as the blade harmlessly impaled the door behind him.

"Enough of this!" Salazaar screamed. "You will never reach the girl! You will all DIE HERE!"

He gripped his bleeding hand and ran towards the elevator at the back of the room. The red guard followed, ignoring the gunfire that Dai and Ada opened on it. They watched angrily as Salazaar and his guard dissapeared up the elevator. Leon pulled his knife out of the wall.

"Well," he said, sheathing it after wiping the blood off. "Look's like we're taking the stairs."

-----

"Watch it, they're jumping down!" Ada warned as she raised her TMP, just as a group of 4 Zealots jumped onto the elevator they were on.

_Braaaaaaaaaap!_

Two were shot off of the elevator as she sprayed into their bodies. Daisuke opted to kick one off the elevator as Ada paused in her attack, and Leon stabbed the other in the face with his knife, before bodily tossing him off as well.

The assault had finally stopped right when they reached the top. Running around the roof of the building, they found an alcove with the merchant standing next to a door.

"Best stock up on some strong stuff strangas," he warned. "They're in there waitin' for yeh."

Leon still had his unused RPG, but they bought the other one, and Daisuke gave his Mine Launcher to Ada as he shouldered his rocket launcher.

Giving eachother nods, the three heros kicked open the door.

-----

"Still alive, are you?" Salazaar commented from his platform. There was a huge plant-like monster in front of him, with tentacles waving about. It looked a lot like a giant Venus flytrap. "I'll soon correct that."

The plant's mouth opened up and vines snaked outwards, snagging Salazaar and his guard. They were swallowed up and Leon, Dai and Ada gripped their weapons nervously. Suddenly, the mouth opened up and they saw a twisting neck splatter outwards, which looked like a huge gross version of the guard's head. It stared at them menacingly as two huge tentacle vines broke through the walls on each side. They crushed the platform in front of them and the giant head lowered to show a mutated Salazaar in the flytrap's mouth.

"And just when we thought you couldn't get any uglier," Daisuke taunted as he shouldered the rocket launcher.

_WHAP!_

The right vine slammed into him, sending him flying to the floor below.

"Dai!" Ada cried, firing a mine at the giant guard head. It roared as the mine dart sunk into its mushy flesh and winced as it exploded, taking a large chunk out of it.

Leon growled impatiently, shouldering his RPG. He was waiting for the head to lower so he could get a clear shot at Salazaar. Ada continued firing at the head, taking out bigger chunks out of it until the Mine Launcher clicked empty.

Glaring at the weapon in disgust, she tossed it away and jumped as a tentacle waved towards her. Leon dove to the floor to avoid the other one. When he got back up, he couldn't see Ada anywhere.

"ADA!" he yelled.

"Up here handsome."

He looked up to see Ada hanging from the ceiling by her grapple gun. She was taking potshots at Salazaar from her advantagous spot with her TMP, and the mutent midget was growling furiously. The guard head rose to bite her out of the sky. It's jaws widened as Leon's eyes did the same thing.

_ADA!_

Leon grabbed for his RPG, but someone beat him to it. A rocket propelled grenade soared from the floor below and hit the guard head dead in the neck. It exploded violently, shredding the giant head from its long neck, making it slam into the floor below.

Leon grinned as he shouldered his RPG. _Good job Dai!_ he thought as he aimed at Salazaar, who was flailing his arms angrily. He squeezed the trigger.

Almost as if in slow-motion, he watched as the rocket flew away from the launcher tube, the fins folding out slowly. Then, it was as if time sped up again and it streaked towards Salazaar, who could only screech as his impending death headed for him.

_**BOOOOOOM!**_

Plant bits and flesh rained around the area as Salazaar was killed, and the plant he resided in as well. It melted away slowly to reveal a door behind it. Ada lowered herself slowly from the ceiling and Leon swept her up in a tight embrace.

"Do _not_ freak me out like that again!" he whispered harshly, before slamming his lips against hers.

She was taken aback for a slight moment, but began to return the favor enthusiastically. Kissing turned to snogging, and then the snogging led to groping, and Leon was pretty sure that if the area wasn't covered in bio-mutent muck, he would've thrown Ada to the floor and hiked that dress up before ravishing her throroughly.

Daisuke couldn't help but give a wry smile at the two as they liplocked as if the world depended on it. He had collected several boxes of ammo in the basement and found several herbs and a case of mine darts. Spotting his favorite boom-machine nearby, he scooped it up and pushed the darts into the magazine before the weapon gave a beep to signify it was loaded.

He turned and saw Leon and Ada still at it, probably expressing 6 years of pent up sexual frustration on eachother.

"Hey guys!" he yelled, smirking as they sprang apart. "Rescue now, sex later."

"Heheheh," Leon said with a goofy look on his face. "Works for me!"

Ada slapped him upside the head. "We'll see about _that_," she chided.

-----

After a short journey down the cliff, they entered a docking area. Ada hopped into the boat and hotwired its ignition. "Need a ride?" she joked as the two agents joined her. She cranked the throttle, and soon they were speeding towards the island in the distance.

Daisuke sat in one of the seats as he pressed his chin into his hand. He was bored, and it was a long trip to the island. He looked over to the Resident Lovebirds. Leon was standing behind Ada, his hands on her hips as she piloted the boat. Both had content smiles on their faces.

_Will I ever get that with Ashley again?_ he wondered, then pushed such morbid thoughts from his mind. Now was not the time to think such things. He pulled out his weapons and did an ammo check. The island had, no doubt, more dangers than the village would.

Leon, as if sensing Daisuke's distress, looked over to the younger man. "Don't worry Dai, we'll save her," he said fiercely, tightening his grip on Ada's hips. She gave a pleased squeak at this. "I swear it."

Dai managed a small smile. "I believe you Leon," he answered. He looked back out to the water. _I believe in us._

-----

Somewhere, maybe out in the vast universe a law was written to ensure that islands acting as evil strongholds for evil men _had_ to be dark and foreboding. The three got a chill down their spines as they approached the rocky escarpment of the island, fog surrounding them.

Ada anchored the boat near the lowest section of rock and used her grapple gun to pull them closer. They carefully got out and drew their weapons. Leon took point with his shotgun as the other two crept along behind him. They had to jump down a small area of rock and cross a wooden bridge. They saw a small military-like outpost which had slightly more modern-looking Ganados standing about. Leon pulled out his digital optics.

"I don't believe it!" he whispered as he and the others hid behind a rock.

"What is it?" Daisuke asked, drawing his SL-9 out.

"A few of these guys have taser rods!" Leon sputtered. He looked around some more. "We got the usual flails and crossbows, but some have some high-tech gear on them!"

"Let me take a look-see," Daisuke suggested. They traded spots and Dai trained his scope on a Ganado soldier. "Hmm, you're right."

_Tooew!_

A quiet burst from his rifle's suppressed barrel ejected a bullet as it shattered the soldier's skull mere microseconds later. Luckily, none of the others were nearby to hear or see their comrade's demise. Two more muffled gunshots signalled the end of two more soldiers before another noticed the exploding heads. He ran away to a section behind the building directly in front of the heros.

"Quick, let's jump across!" Leon said, getting up. They leapt over to the outpost and whipped their guns out.

"AAAAAAAARRRR!"

A large soldier jumped down. He wore an army outfit consisting of fatigues, and even had a red beret on his head. Of course, Daisuke and the others noted these _after_ seeing the M134 minigun that he carried in his hands.

For once, Leon beat Daisuke to the punch line: "Well shit."

All three dove for cover as the large soldier cackled, spewing out 7.62mm bullets in an incredible rate of fire. Daisuke, hunkering behind a short wall, couldn't tell where one bullet ended and another started.

There was a pause in fire as the soldier let the minigun's barrels cool down. Leon stood up from his hiding spot and fired a round of buckshot at him, which only caused him to roar in fury and open fire again. Leon leapt to a new hiding spot as the sandbags he was hiding behind before were shredded, sending up small storms of sand.

Ada glanced at Dai as Leon continued hopping around, dodging minigun fire and soldier attacks, as more came out from the buildings. "Any plans, cutie?" she asked.

Daisuke thought for a moment. "Yeah, here!" he unwrapped the ML from his back and slid it over to where she was hiding behind the building nearest to them. "I'm gonna chuck a frag at him, if it doesn't kill him, it should stun him at least. If he's stunned, fire at him, okay?"

"Got it," Ada nodded.

Daisuke pulled a frag from his pouch and looked around. There was another cement wall to his right, which would hopefully draw the soldier's fire away from Leon and Ada as he tossed the grenade. He pulled the pin on the grenade and leaped towards the cement wall. Twisting in midair, he popped the top and hurled it towards the soldier he affectionately named, "JJ".

JJ spied the flying Daisuke and heaved his minigun.

_BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!_

The cement wall Daisuke hid behind began to get chipped away quickly as JJ unloaded into it. "FUCKING GRENADE," he yelled over the exploding cement. "EXPLODE!"

As if on cue, JJ howled as the grenade exploded, killing several of his undead buddies and knocking him to the ground.

"NOW ADA!" Daisuke yelled. She jumped up and aimed the Mine Launcher towards JJ. She quickly emptied the entire magazine into his body as he groaned from the ground.

BOOM! BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

His body was quickly torn to shred as the explosive darts decimated him and the surrounding soldiers. Ada smiled triumphantly.

Daisuke also smiled as he stood up. He went to say something, but something struck him in the back, and he went down to the ground. Grimacing from the burst of white hot pain in his back, Dai rolled over to see a lone soldier above him, raising his axe to finish him off.

BAM!

His head exploded, and Dai rolled out of the way as the body dropped with the axe. Leon stood not 10 feet away, Colt smoking in his hands. "You okay Dai?"

He grunted. "Got hit in the back," he muttered, rolling over so Leon and Ada could see.

He heard them breath in sharply. "What?"

"We need to use a F.Aid spray fast." was all Leon said. He heard the sound of a cap popping off and then the aerosol spray of the healing spray.

His back felt warm afterwards and soon the pain faded away to a dull throb. He sat up slowly.

"Careful," Ada said, steadying him as he swayed a bit. "You should eat a few herbs as well, you got hit in the kidney."

Dai complied and swallowed three mashed up green herbs, washing them down with water. Luckily, the herbs tasted like a spicy mint gum. He breathed out happily as the throb in his back ceased.

Leon helped him to his feet and slapped him on the shoulder. "Good job Daisuke," he said. He wound his arm around Ada's shoulder and gave her a quick kiss. "You too Ada."

Leon then looked hesitant. "Although, there's something you should know Dai," he said nervously. "Your rifle..."

Daisuke looked alarmed. "NO!" he gasped, reaching around his back. He pulled the butt of his SL-9, only to watch as half of his rifle came foward. Grabbing the sling, he pulled the front half forward and moaned. His trusty sniper rifle was cut cleanly in half. "DAMMIT!"

"Come on," Ada said soothingly. "The merchant might have another one luv."

Daisuke merely pouted and ejected the magazine, placing it into his pack. He would need the rounds. They walked up to the large door at the top of the stairs. After some guesswork, Ada and Leon moved the mirrors on two buildings to complete a laser locking system, unlocking the door.

-----

The fight uphill was incredibly hard, but once the three got to the top, it was a matter of igniting another stupidly placed cart of gunpowder to destroy the soldiers coming up the hill after them.

The quickly entered the door and spotted the merchant in a space up ahead.

"Hello strangas," he greeted. He then spotted the lack of rifly on Daisuke. "'Ere now stranga! Wot 'appened to your SL-9?"

"It got the axe," Daisuke muttered.

The merchant shook his head sadly. "Bad business that," he said apologetically. Even a carrier of the Plaga could see that Dai had loved that gun. "Well, because I feel your pain stranga, I thought you might like this. Consider it on the 'ouse!"

He gestered towards a very large attache case behind him. Daisuke flicked open the latches and nearly had a seizure when he saw what was inside.

It was a sniper rifle. But this sniper rifle would from now on be called "Kasumi" in Daisuke's mind. Indeed, the rifle laying out in front of him so provacatively could only have an equally sexy name since it was gorgeous. In fact, Daisuke made sure to tell Ashley that their first born daughter would be named after this rifle.

The rifle that had captivated Dai's mind was an Accuracy International Arctic Warfare Super Magnum model. It was chambered to use the extremely powerful .338 Lapua Magnum bulllet, giving it the power and range close to a .50 caliber round, but the recoil and ease of use of a normal 7.62mm round. The unique rifle was one of the most comfortable sniper rifles in the world, and even though it was bolt-action, quick to fire.

(AN: Yes, this is the same rifle the cowboy S.T.A.R.S. used in RE: Apocalpyse)

As Daisuke lifted the olive drab beauty out of the case, he nearly creamed himself from the power he felt in his hands. Yes, Kasumi was a dangerous and sexy woman. She was like... an orgasm in gun terms.

Leon and Ada exchanged worried looks as they watched Daisuke fondle the rifle. "Err, Dai -"

"SHHH!" Daisuke hissed. "We're bonding."

The merchant, Leon and Ada stood around awkwardly as Daisuke seemed to cuddle his new rifle and Ada thought she heard him whisper sweet nothings into its bolt chamber...

Finally, Daisuke gave the rifle one more pat as he lay it down to the three mags in the case. Turning to the merchant, he gave him a serious look.

"I'll take her."

"Uhh. Good choice stranga."

It appeared that the merchant was as weirded out as Dai's companions. Leon and Ada decided to end the awkward moment as they exchanged some pesatas and treasures with the merchant. Daisuke paid them no mind as he picked Kasumi up again and pulled the bolt back. It slid back smoothly and he suppressed a shudder of pleasure. Yes, he was messed up but he could have cared less. This was a $25,000USD sniper rifle! He quickly slid one of the 10 round magazines into the gun and pushed the bolt back, chambering the extremely deadly .338 Lapua round.

"A word of caution stranga," the merchant called to Daisuke. He turned around. "Those aren't normal Lapua rounds! They're Explosive Hollow Point rounds!"

"Very nice," Daisuke murmured as he gazed at Kasumi lovingly. Leon's polite cough brought him out of his reverie.

"We... should get... going," the older agent said, giving Dai a wierd look.

"I'm fine!" Daisuke said quickly, holding his hands up. "I just had to get, uh, used to such a wicked gun!"

"Okay there," Ada said in a patronizing tone. "We believe you! Can we get going now?"

-----

"Look, soldiers up on the ledge!" Ada hissed, pointing to the left. They hid behind a particularly large crate. Dai pulled Kasumi out and flicked out the Harris bipod at the front, placing the legs onto the top of the crate. Now that the gun was stabilized, he took aim with the high powered 1-20X illuminated tactical scope. The scope was very high tech, and offered computerized calculations for windage and range. It would place a red circle to where you would aim to get a 100 percent hit on your intended target.

Since Daisuke's target was only about 100 yards away, the red circle was fixed in the middle of the crosshairs. Taking three slow breaths, he held his last one and squeezed the trigger.

**POW!**

Kasumi bucked wildly in Daisuke's arms (he had some dirty thoughts at that moment) and the soldier on the ledge was promptly dropped like a sack of shit to the ground, its head, neck and most of its collarbone area vaporized from the explosive round.

"Holy shit!" Daisuke gasped giddily.

"Holy shit!" Leon agreed.

"Holy - well you know what I mean," Ada said, her mouth wide open.

Daisuke packed up the bipod legs and fondly patted Kasumi's side. "Oh, you're a wild one Kasumi," he said with a smile.

"'Kasumi'?" Ada asked in disbelief. "You _named_ it?"

"Hey, it's a _she_ thankyouverymuch!" Daisuke snapped. He strapped Kasumi to his back. "Don't tell me you don't name a gun you really like!"

Leon and Ada just shrugged helplessly.


	10. Chapter 10

to one of my reviewers, you know who you are!: I lied, I'm updating now. And NO, this isn't a review reply:P

Hopefully I can wrap this story up in 5 or so more chapters, so I can get started on the unnamed sequal, which this story is pretty much a long prologue to. It will mainly star Daisuke Tendo and Rebecca Chambers as its main characters, and I'm telling you now that the Ashley/Dai pairing will end at the end of this story, with a good legitimate non-canon death reason.

New disclaimer: In Soviet Russia, story owns YOU!

* * *

Chapter 10

"Looks like some sort of military base," Daisuke commented as he shifted the G23 in his sweaty hands. The temperature was slightly warmer in here than it was outside.

"Ugh, this kitchen is _foul_!" Ada sniffed, pinching her nose with one hand as she clutched her G17 with the other. "Look at all the rotting meat!"

Leon shook his head at the two as he headed towards what looked like an incinerator.

"BWAAAAAA!"

He jumped back as the door of the incinerator exploded outwards, unleashing a man who was on fire. He ran towards the blond agent, but Leon put him down with buckshot to the gut. Taking a few deep breaths to collect himself, he pumped the handle and muttered, "Come on, let's go."

-----

"Looks like some sort of surveillence room," Daisuke commented as they entered a room full of television monitors. They could see sections of the base from here.

"Look!" Leon said, pointing to one of the screams. It showed Ashley inside of what appeared to be a prison cell.

"_Leon! Daisuke! Ada!_" she cried, pounding on the cell door. "_Help!_"

Daisuke growled as he watched the screen. The poor girl was bawling her eyes out, and it looked like her 5-7 was taken from her, as well as all of her ammunition. "Shit, she's unarmed!"

They watched Ashley pound the door some more and then turn around. Two soldiers walked onto the screen and encircled her leeringly.

"_Get away!_" she screamed, kicking the one nearest to her in the groin. He dropped, grabbing his injured jewels.

Dai and Leon winced. "Well, it's a good thing they still have nerves," Leon said with a grimace.

The other soldier grabbed Ashley by the wrist and threw her into the corner of the cell. Daisuke made sure to remember his ugly face.

"_Screw you!_" Ashley shrieked, smashing a wooden chair over his head. He crumpled to the floor, joining his bretheren.

The three watching the scene looked at eachother warily.

"I think it's safe to say you've both corrupted the president's daughter," Ada said smoothly.

One of the soldiers dragged himself to a switch on the wall, and suddenly, the picture went out. Leon grimaced.

"Let's get a move on," he said, shouldering the boomstick.

-----

The next area they entered was a sort of garage. As they neared the garage door, it suddenly opened and showed three soldiers lighting up sticks of dynamite. Daisuke and Ada jumped back behind a wall as Leon ran forward, dodging the flying sticks. They exploded, but luckily he wasn't hit, and he rolled to his feet, firing into the three soldiers as the garage door went back down.

He waited in front of the door patiently, while Dai and Ada watched. As soon as it went up again, he rolled a frag grenade under it, before jumping back. The explosion tore the garage door off its hinges and killed all the soldiers behind it. Daisuke and Ada quickly joined Leon as he walked into the room. They found a green herb and some TMP ammo before exiting out the door in the back.

-----

"Left or right?" Daisuke asked when they came to a fork.

"Well, we're all right handed," Leon suggested, taking a step to the right. "Let's try it out.

The corridor eventually led to a dead-end, but not before they found a briefcase full of emeralds. Whooping at their big find, they poured the precious gems into Leon's pack as they searched for more stuff. They found a full box of 9mm rounds, and then another big find.

"Oh nice!" Leon said, happily opening a crate of munitions. Inside lay four HE grenades for his M79. He picked them up and slid them into his medic pouch, with the single HE and incendiary rounds already in it.

Daisuke found some files about some sort of failed experiement, and he made note of them before they went back to the fork in the corridor.

-----

"This room gives me the creeps," Ada muttered as they walked into what looked like an autopsy room. She shuddered as she looked into a window to an operating room. On it lay a disgustingly horrible creature, which may have been human at one point. Its skin looked charred, as if it were burnt alive, and its belly was fat and sagging, even as it lay dead on the operating table. Luckily, the door to the room was locked.

She walked up to another door to a larger operating room and noticed a console next to it. She figured out the unlocking process easily, all she had to do was line up arrows from one end to the other. Several simple seconds later, the door slid open, and the trio walked in to another gruesome sight.

Another body lay on another operating table, but this one was backed up to the headrest, its arms and face locked in an immortal look of horror. The arms were raised up, as if protecting its face, which had the look of utmost terror on it. Right in front, hanging off the operating light was a mature plaga, also in a death throw. It looked as if it were about to leap onto the face of its dead victim, but both had mysteriously died in the act.

"Ugh," Daisuke shuddered. "This place is worse than the village..."

Leon frowned, edging away from the table as he looked around. "You got that right," he murmured, looking around. "At least the villagers were human."

Ada stood away from the table, seemingly afraid to even go near it. Her eyes darted around, and she spoke out orders to the two agents.

"Daisuke, there's a box of shotgun shells to your right," she ordered. As he went to pick them up, she called to Leon. "Leon, there's some notes on the table, and that body is holding something."

Leon found some notes by Luis, and pocketed them, for they looked important. The corpse lying next to the defribulator held a keycard in its cold dead hands. He picked it up. It had the word _Freezer_ on it.

A loud crash was heard outside. All three spun around to the door, brandishing their weapons. A scary noise was heard outside, something that sounded like someone trying to breath, but failing and ending with short, high pitched gasps.

Daisuke looked out the window from his spot. "Shit!" he hissed quietly. "It's that dead thing that was on that table!"

Ada shuddered and nearly flew back from the door and behind Leon. Leon pulled Luis' notes out.

_The hideous creates such as the El Gigante and the Novistadors are merely by-products of the diabolical and inhumane experiments conducted on the specimens that were once human. But there'son type of creature that clearly distinguishes itself from the rest. These creatures are called Regenerators. Regeneratoes have a superior metabolism that allows them to regenerate their lost body parts at incredible speeds. I've never seen anything like it... _

_It is this characteristic that makes them almost invincible to conventional weapons. But like any living creature, there's a way to kill it. Apparently there are Plagas that live in its body somewhat like leeches. _

_To stop its regeneration process, these leech-like Plagas must be located and then destroyed. But they can't be seen with the naked eye. They can only be located through thermal imaging. As far as I know, most of the Regererators most a number of these leech like Plagas. The kill the Regenerators, each one of these leech like Plagas must be killed. _

"It's called a Regenerator!" Leon hissed as Daisuke ducked so he wouldn't be seen. "It has Plagas inside that have to be killed first before we can kill it itself!"

"How do we do that?" Ada hissed back, clutching his arm as she huddled behind him.

"I don't think we can, not without something that can sense the Plaga inside," Leon whispered as the door slid open...

BOOM!

The creature known as a "Regenerator" stumbled back a few steps as Leon shot into its midsection with his shotgun. He watched in horror as the monster's midsection sloshed with yellow liquid and seemingly healed itself.

"Oh yeah, _Regenerator_, duh," he said, smacking his forehead.

"LEON!" Ada screamed, drawing his attention back to the monster. He quickly fired into it some more, making sure his shotgun hit every square inch of the monster in hopes to kill the Plagas inside.

Finally, with a point blank shot to its left thigh, the monster began to bloat horribly, and Leon and Ada leapt away as it exploded, leaving its legs behind as it erupted into a cloud of yellow gore.

"Gross!" Daisuke shouted as he ran to help the two up. "There better not be anymore of them!"

-----

They ran into two more Regenerators on their way to the freezer. Once inside, Daisuke found an infrared rifle scope, and fitted it onto Kasumi, hoping that it would be zeroed in for his rifle. He got his chance to test that theory as they exited, finding another wheezing Regnerator waiting for them outside in the hallway. Turning the scope on, Daisuke saw a red blob inside the monster, near its left shoulder. He fired at it, and watched as the creature exploded from one shot.

"Great!" Leon cheered, wiping some gore from his boot. "We'll be safe against those things now!"

Ada came back out of the freezer, with the keycard they used to get in. It had been rewritten, and would now open the door at the end of the hallway.

"Ugh," she shuddered, averting her eyes away from the remains of the Regenerator. "Come on, let's go.

-----

They entered into a control booth for a garbage disposal area. In front of them was a large bay window showing the garbage area and several soldiers standing around stupidly. Leon figured out the controls for the garbage crane, and dropped it down on two soldiers, surprising them as the hydraulic claws crushed them together. Leon then released them, and brought the crane over to another soldier, who was running away. He caught him quickly and used the crane to toss him into the garbage hole. The last one started to run towards the control booth, but Ada put two holes in his forehead, shattering the window in the process.

They went into the dump area and found a green herb and another emerald lying in one of the dumpsters. Deciding that the herb was most likely contaminated from the dumpster sludge, they tossed it away, not wanting to contract anything dangerous. They found a door at the back and went into the room behind it.

They entered a sort of security room, which had quite a bit of ammo lying on the table. Since they hadn't really wasted much ammo other than shotgun shells on Regenerators, they placed the boxes into the men's packs as Leon reloaded his 870. Ada found a box of 100 TMP rounds and reloaded her two 50 round mags, before placing one into her TMP and the other into Leon's vest.

-----

"Ashley!" Daisuke cried, running up to her cell. The two soldiers from before tried to attack him, but he sliced them to ribbons when he remembered what they did to the girl. Wiping his blade on a nearby cloth, he re-sheathed it and ran up to the barred window on the cell door.

"Daisuke!" she squealed, running up to the door, lacing her fingers with his through the thick bars. "You're okay!"

"How you holding up?" he asked worriedly, as Leon and Ada kept watch outside.

"I'm okay," she said. "I pissed them off pretty bad though, and they tossed my gun and ammo out the window!"

"Shit," Daisuke swore. That was a very useful pistol. "We'll just buy you a new gun once we get you out of here, okay?"

"Hurry," Ashley said, her big golden eyes boring into Daisuke's. She leaned forward and placed an awkward kiss on his lips through the bars.

"Don't worry Ashley," Daisuke said, stepping back. "We'll get you out of there in no time!"

The girl watched as her friends exited through a door on their left and went back to sitting around the tables and boxes. They would come back for her. They always did.

-----

The next room was an X-Ray room, housing a bunch of soldiers. Daisuke and Ada poured out automatic fire, not even giving the soldiers a chance to react as hot lead poured into the room, tearing into everything. They didn't stop until their guns clicked empty. Leon raised an eyebrow as he stood behind them, his shotgun held loose in his hands.

"Angry much?" he commented, walking forward.

They walked into a research room and heard snivelling gasps of breath. Turning, they saw a new kind of Regenerator, one that was covered in spikes.

"That doesn't look good," Ada muttered, stepping behind Leon.

It was just in time too, because the stretching arm of the monster shot forward and grabbed onto Leon, although intended for Ada.

"Leon!" Ada cried, as Leon was dragged towards the Regenerator, and she watched as the spikes thrust out of its body, nearly triple in length.

"I'm on it!" Daisuke yelled, shouldering Kasumi. He turned the scope on and quickly found the two Plagas in the right thigh and stomach. He blew the leg off quickly, making the Regenerator stumble, and stop its pulling of Leon for a moment. As soon as it went down, Daisuke cycled the bolt and blew it in half with a shot to the gut, making the monster explode. The severed arm released its grip on Leon's neck, making the man start to suck in great gulps of air that he had been previously denied.

"Leon!" Ada cried, running over and fussing over him.

"I'm fine, thanks to Dai," Leon panted, collecting himself. "Good shooting there."

-----

They quickly found the key to Ashley's cell and made their way back, taking note of the strangely empty hallways. As soon as they unlocked the cell door, Ashley flew forward and knocked Daisuke off his feet and onto his back, kissing his face.

"Disgustingly cute, isn't it?" Leon asked Ada, who watched the proceedings with amused curiosity.

"_Ehhe, ai esta!_"

The adults turned around to see a group of soldiers converge on them, with two big guys wearing spiky armor. They were weilding large maces, and they ran full tilt at them.

BOOOOM!

The High Explosive grenade from Leon's M79 sent them hurling backwards in pieces, landing in front of their less dangerous soldier buddies. Ada put the last three soldiers out of their misery with sharp shots to their foreheads with her TMP while Leon reloaded.

He pressed the barrel release on the M79 frame, and the barrel tilted forward, exposing the spent shell. Gripping the rim with his fingers, Leon slid it out and tossed the empty shell onto the ground. He reached into his medic pouch and made sure he pulled another 40mm HE round before sliding it into the barrel. With a firm snap, he locked the barrel back into place on the frame.

-----

As they re-entered the security room, they had to duck from a bolt fired by an archer. Daisuke quickly shot at the small group of soldiers in the room, but missed one who locked the doors. Ada quickly killed that last one with a burst from her TMP, and Leon quickly pressed the unlock button. They exited the security room and were back in the dump area. Leon walked over to the edge.

"There's a door down there I think," he said, craning his neck over the edge. "Well, let's go."

"Are you crazy?" Ashley said. "I'm not jumping into that!"

"Aw come on," Daisuke said, slowly guiding her towards the edge, though she didn't know it. "You'll land on your butt!"

Ada snorted. "Men!" she sighed, pulling her grapple gun out and taking Ashley's hand. "No tact _what_sover..."

She fired up at the crane and slowly lowered herself and the girl down safely.

Leon and Daisuke just shrugged at eachother, then with a whoop, they jumped down.

-----

"You two are so immature!" Ashley scolded as the men brushed garbage off their clothes, grinning like 10 year old boys. "Look at _that!_"

They turned to see a body of a Regenerator, lying crumpled in the garbage. The slowly backed away.

"Let's get through those gates," Ada said nervously, grabbing Ashley's hand and dragging her through the gateway. Just then, the Regenerator got up and started its creepy slow walk towards Daisuke and Leon.

"Run!" Leon yelled.

"Yes!" Daisuke screamed, dodging an extendo-fist and diving towards the open gate. Leon dashed through and Ada threw the lever down, causing a thick barred gate to slam down, preventing the Regenerator from getting through. It began to bash at the steel bars, and they bent from its strength.

"Now would be a good time Dai," Ada yelled, keeping her TMP's laser trained on the creature. Daisuke quickly brought Kasumi out and found three Plagas in the heart, head and right arm. Three shots later, the Regenerator exploded.

"GROSS!" Ashley shrieked, dodging some flying gore.

Daisuke noticed that the magazine in Kasumi was empty, so he slid it out and put it into his pack, withdrawing a full one afterwards. He slid it into the rifle with a loud click and pushed the bolt back.

"Better keep it out," Leon warned. He held his finger up to silence them. "Listen."

They strained their ears and faintly heard more gasping wheezes in the distance. "Come on, let's go.

-----

Much later on, they ran into the merchant again, in a large tunnel area. He unravelled his wares and didn't have anything new than what he had before.

"Can't believe you lost your gun," he shook his head at Ashley.

"I didn't _lose_ it," Ashley snapped. "It was taken from me!"

"If you say so missy," he grumbled. "Pick somefing new out!"

She grumbled, but after much choosing, she settled the large 9mm Beretta M93R autopistol. The others looked at her. "What?"

"You _do_ realise that that is a very powerful gun?" Leon asked. "Semi-auto, three round burst?"

"Sure, sure, whatever," Ashley said, inspecting the gun daintily. "What does this do?"

"It's a folding stock," Leon said, pressing the buttons on the thin metal bar. It unfolded to become what he said it was. "For stability." He then unfolded the foregrip at the front. "This too."

"Okay, that should help me with the kick, right?" Ashley asked, holding the gun in both hands.

"The recoil, yeah," Leon said.

"Well I'll take it then!" she said primly, sliding it into her holster. Luckily, it was a universal holster and with a few adjustments to the straps, the gun fit snugly. It was much heavier than the 5-7, but she would survive.

Ashley bought the gun along with three more 20 round magazines, which extended out from the bottom of the handgrip about 3 inches. They went into the pouches on her left thigh that previously held her extended 5-7 mags. When they were finished, they bid the merchant goodbye and forged onwards.


End file.
